


Goodwill Parting

by Overthinkerwrites



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: A combination of all three endings, Additional world buidling, Android trauma, Assisted Masturbation, Awkward Coital Shenanigans, Connections to Nier: Gestalt, Cunnilingus, Ending C (NieR: Automata), Ending D (NieR: Automata), Ending E Spoilers (NieR: Automata), F/F, Poorly written allegories, Possible Yoko Taro fetish?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2020-07-29 11:40:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 88,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20081605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overthinkerwrites/pseuds/Overthinkerwrites
Summary: The war is over, it's time to rebuild, and with their departure, the Machine Lifeforms have left something for the Androids to complicate matters. Then again, it was never simple, was it?





	1. Chapter 1

There was a collective gasp as the androids witnessed the tower shake and buckle.  
  
Recent incursions by the machine lifeforms had put them on the defensive. It was inevitable they would have to abandon their fortifications and retreat.  
  
They were, in fact, in the middle of preparations to abandon their camp when a rumble caused all of them to stop and look towards the imposing tower that had appeared not too long ago.  
  
Anemone, in the middle of compiling all the files they had acquired and written during their time there, whispered to herself, “A2.”  
  
She knew the wayward YorHa had gone ahead to take the fight to the machines, despite her appeal to come with her. Worse yet, she knew that there was one of the YorHa survivors already there and Bunker or no, they would follow orders.  
  
She turned to one of the recon units. “Do we have any readings?”  
  
The android in question typed furiously for an answer on his console before he turned back. “I can’t get anything specific from here, but form what I can tell, the field that usually guards structures they make is gone. It’s like they’ve completely abandoned it and they, uh, letting it crumble under its own weight.”  
  
By then, the towers had completely fallen and only a residual rumble was felt throughout the city.  
  
“Unit, get all the recons squads on call and find out what the hell happened. At once!” She started to march towards the exit of the camp before she turned to her fellow androids, “cease evacuation and shore up our defenses until we can find out what just happened.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am!” The rest of the androids all saluted.  
  
She then whirled around and ran to the exit. She wouldn’t go any further, however, she still wanted to go. It was illogical. Against her programming. However, she would have given anything to make sure A2 was alright.  
  
*  
  
Jackass crawled through the rubble. Nothing too hard to deal with however, she wished she had some explosives handy. That would clear the way, easy.  
  
It had been a day since a strange light had launched from the top of the tower the machine lifeforms had built and subsequently collapsed. Right now, more and more of the android forces had come to this particular city to examine the ruins, because, evidently, all machine lifeforms on the planet had gone silent.  
  
No amount of dissection or defragmenting could explain a reason why each and all of the run times of each machine lifeform had just vanished.  
  
Jackass frowned. She didn’t like that. No sir. Not at all. She heaved another rock to the side. All her years as a munitions expert had told her that something was up. Not necessarily wrong, but not really right.  
  
A patch of red caught her eye as she noticed a small shelter between some of the larger pieces of debris. She grabbed another piece and rolled it away where it almost hit one of her subordinates.  
  
“Dammit, Jackass! Watch it!”  
  
She lifted up her right hand and extended the middle finger as a curt reply before she entered the alcove. It was an old human custom she had learned to appreciate.  
  
She blinked and then gasped when she saw the inert forms of Devola and Popola, laid against a large slab. It looked like they had taken a beating, but prevailed nonetheless.  
  
“Hey,” she called as she crawled over to them as she grabbed Devola’s hand and shook it, “you two ok?”  
  
“Hey!” She called again as she crawled beside them and did the same to Devola’s shoulder.  
  
“Hey!” She shout just as the tip of a blade saw whipped out, only inches from her face, held by Popola’s hand and a snarl on her face.  
  
“Don’t. You. Dare.” Popola’s voice processor and modulator had been damaged, by the sound of it, “Leave. Us. Alone.”  
  
“Calm down, Popes,” she held her hands up, while she didn’t engage in the usual awful aggressions the rest of the resistance did, she also could have done more to make them feel welcome. “Good news; we won.”  
  
Popola paused, lowered the blade, and looked to the entrance behind them.  
  
“We. Won?”  
  
Jackass nodded. “Yeah. Not sure how, but all machine lifeform activity on the planet has stopped. Everything they made is falling apart. We won!”  
  
Popola looked down a moment as she looked to her side to the sleeping Devola. She put the blade down and hugged her counterpart dearly before she sniffed audibly.  
  
“Hey, if you want, I can take you back to the camp and get you patched up,” Jackass offered her hand.  
  
Popola turned to glare at her. Already, Jackasss knew why.  
  
“Fair point,” she finally put her hands down, “how about I come with you guys to make sure nothing happens, ok?” She didn’t give much thought about what to do after she got them back, however, right now, Anemone said they needed all hands on deck and that included the twins, whether those in the camp objected or not.  
  
Popola nodded before she put her forehead against Devola’s temple, which would deactivate a lockdown protocol in order to preserve as much of her personality as she could.  
  
Slowly, Devola’s eyes fluttered open and she groaned to attempt to defend her other half, however, the data transfer between them caused her to slow and put the weapon in her hand down.  
  
Jackass reached over and started to pull them to the entrance, one at a time. It was through the light of the entrance did she notice that several of the slabs had books in them… sorta.  
  
Several books lay in a pile from what was at one time a shelf. How it was part of the tower was beyond Jackass, however, she did notice on top of the pile lay a packet, inscribed with script she couldn’t read.  
  
Regardless, she reached over and picked it up. It was flexible and moved like the old paper planks she had read about, but it was made of metal. Most likely the material made from the tower itself.  
  
She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to take this packet. In fact, it almost seemed like it was placed here for her to find. Well, if that was the case, then perhaps it had something she could decipher. If she could.  
  
She placed the packet in her cape and helped the twins to their feet to get back to camp.  
  
*  
  
She.  
  
Wait, what was she?  
  
She was she.  
  
Her.   
  
That was what she remembered of herself.  
  
What was left of herself?  
  
She didn’t know.  
  
No. She did know.  
  
She remembered.  
  
Lots of red.  
  
There was little else.  
  
What kind of red was it?  
  
It was a dark red.  
  
Wait. Why was it dark?  
  
Because it was dry.  
  
What was dry?  
  
The red…  
  
…red blood.  
  
It was dark because it was dry and there was something black that obscured her sight.  
  
No. She knew what it was.  
  
It was the blindfold.  
  
The red was the blood.  
  
His blood.  
  
She knew who she was .  
  
What she was.  
  
The red changed.  
  
It was not red that came from her.  
  
Fitting perhaps.  
  
She remembered the red in her eyes.  
  
The confusion, the madness, the loss of self.  
  
It changed, again.  
  
When the dark took her, she felt plucked from where she sat.  
  
Called?  
  
Taken?  
  
Stolen?  
  
Lifted.  
  
Yes. Lifted away and into another place.  
  
She couldn’t tell where it was or what it was.  
  
However, it was a place where she slept.  
  
She wasn’t alone.  
  
There were others.  
  
They were familiar.  
  
How did she know them?  
  
It was before the red took them.  
  
Took them from her.  
  
And now here they all were.  
  
Then silence.  
  
A long, deafening silence.  
  
Did time pass?  
  
If so, how long?  
  
She didn’t know.  
  
She and the others could feel… them.  
  
The ones that took them.  
  
Suddenly, there was a vacuum.  
  
Before she or the others could register it, they had left.  
  
Vanished.  
  
Gone.   
  
They were left all alone.  
  
They had also left something for them.  
  
She and the others could see it.  
  
What was it?  
  
She didn’t know.  
  
While she wasn’t naturally curious, this was an exception.   
  
Whatever it was, it was meant for her.   
  
Meant for them.  
  
Whatever it was, it was theirs.   
  
So, they took it.  
  
She took it.  
  
And that was when she opened her eyes and gasped.  
  
*  
  
“Ma’am,” one of the scanners turned to Anemone from his console, “I’m getting another energy spike. This time from the canyon.”  
  
Anemone turned to him. “The one that leads to the Forest?”  
  
He nodded. “I’ve also got confirmation from the station by the commercial ruins. They’re not sure what it’s coming from. It went as quickly as it appeared.”  
  
Jackass, who overheard the exchange, cried out, “want me to check it out? I can take Dozer, Chunk, and Sparrow with me.”  
  
Anemone looked to Jackass as she sat with the twins.  
  
Right now, repairs to the resistance was underway and, more importantly, she was curious about that packet that Jackass had retrieved from the tower.  
  
“Sorry, Jackass, but I need you here. We can find out what it was later.”  
  
“We can go,” Devola spoke, as she still appeared in need of repairs.  
  
She turned to the Twins, still eager to work despite their obvious state.  
  
“No.” She said without a missed beat.  
  
A2 wouldn’t want that. Every time she had come to camp, she had inquired about the state of the twins. She had even gotten into several fights on their behalf, which often left her at odds with other members of the Resistance.  
  
She couldn’t verbalize it, but she missed A2. And from what her scouts had noted, it was evident A2 was gone because she was in the tower and didn’t get out as it fell.  
  
“Focus on your own repairs. I’ll go myself,” she walked over to her trunk and pulled out her rifle and combat knife.  
  
Everyone within earshot stopped dead in their tracks as Anemone started to make her way to the exit. She noticed their hesitation and ordered, “as your were.”  
  
Jackass stood dumbfounded a moment before she walked in front of her.  
  
“Wait, are you serious? We need you here!”  
  
Anemone did not falter. “No. The Resistance neural net is still operational. If I find anything suspicious, I’ll return as quickly as I can. And if something else happens, you all know what to do.”  
  
“What the fuck!” Jackass was incredulous. “We barely recovered after we lost Rose. What makes you think we’d do better without you? What do we do if we lose you?!”  
  
Anemone gently pushed her aside with a humored grin on her face. “Do what you do best, Jackass. Improvise.”  
  
Jackass’ eyes leveled in annoyance. “There's a difference between munition application and actual leadership, dammit!”   
  
*  
  
Anemone hands dug into the side of the rock as she lowered herself step by step. It had gotten moist from the waterfall not too far away and with nowhere else to go, she had to literally dig into the rocks to give herself a foothold.  
  
She originally a combat model meant as a shock trooper more than anything. However, upgrades and promotions given to her were more than enough to function as an all purpose soldier. There was nothing she could not do. Except win the war, evidently, she thought sourly.  
  
When her feet hit the ground she turned to the sound of the distant waterfall. The scanner had informed her via com link she was clear to the source of the energy spike.  
  
She unslung her gun from her back and advanced towards the waterfall. She avoided touching any of the many dead machine lifeforms as she advanced. She couldn’t detect any activity from any one of them. However, she did notice that the closer she got to the waterfall, there were more and more of them.  
  
When she reached the pool at the foot of the waterfall, she held up her gun a moment only to pause at what she saw.  
  
There were countless machine lifeforms gathered in what she could only describe as a large cocoon, suspended from the walls.  
  
She lowered her weapon a moment, only to raise it again when the cocoon flashed with light. She didn’t pull the trigger, however, she did kneel and keep herself by the edge of the wall in case she met a confirmed hostile.  
  
After several more flashes, a few of the machine lifeforms at the bottom of the cocoon detached and fell unceremoniously to the floor.  
  
The opening let loose a stream of viscous thick fluid that matched the description of Adam and Eve’s creation from 2B and 9S.  
  
However, this time, Anemone looked closer to see the first of several humanoid shaped figures fall out and into the water.  
  
The first one that had emerged crawled out of the mixture of water and whatever substance they had emerged from. Each one of them coughed as they got their bearings.  
  
When it got to its feet, Anemone lowered her weapon and held back a gasp when she recognized the individual.  
  
“2B?”  
  
The individual who looked like 2B, blinked through the material she had emerged from and noticed Anemone.  
  
“What… who, where are we?”  
  
Anemone slung her weapon across her back.  
  
“Not sure if you’re going to like the answer or not.”  
  
*  
  
Jackass never liked to be rushed on her projects. Especially if it involved munitions. However, she was not so sure that this held the same enthusiasm for her current project. She just had to tell Anemone that she had found those damn files in the ruins of the tower. Now, the boss lady wanted them decrypted, if at all possible.  
  
With a grumble, she continued to analyze the scripting code they had recently disseminated from the global neural net. Several research arms of the Resistance had chomped at the bit to learn what they could from the aliens and with the war finally over, they could find out what the hell they were doing.  
  
Until they could disassemble the spaceship and send the samples of the aliens’ DNA out to the other branches, they had gotten nonstop requests from said branches for news. Thankfully, she didn’t have to deal with it at the present time and dove into the work of translating the files she had found.  
  
A ruckus from outside interrupted her thoughts as she put her console to sleep, then climbed out of the tent the Twins currently rested in.  
  
At the entrance of the camp, she saw Anemone with several, if not a dozen, humanoid individuals, clad in rags and cloaks that Anemone had most likely found or brought with her.  
  
“Hey, boss,” Jackass approached the group, “what's going on?”  
  
Anemone, after she sent several other soldiers to retrieve more supplies, turned to her, “That’s what I want to find out.”  
  
Her gaze went from Anemone to the first cloaked individual behind her and blinked.  
  
“Wait. Hold on,” Jackass exclaimed, “2B? I thought you were dead!”  
  
The woman in the cloak turned to Jackass, as if she was surprised at being spoken to, looked around, and asked, “Who?”  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember; reviews, especially detailed ones, are the lifeblood of writers.
> 
> Here's a simple format to follow;  
1\. What did you like? (the more specific, the better)  
2\. And if not, why? Inquiring minds want to know!  
Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

The factory was silent. Machine Lifeforms, whether they were once part of the Cult of Deification, the war effort, or individual stragglers, there was no indication of life, artificial or otherwise.   
  
Near one of the roundabouts, one inert machine began to twitch. Another followed suit. And another. And another.   
  
Unlike their normal gait, they did everything from roll, to tumblr, and a few even float to follow the others.  
  
Their eyes did not glow with the usual red light of their origin. However, at their junctions, a purple light emanated from between the junctions of each machine.   
  
One after another, they made their way upwards and onwards to the entrance of the factory. In the central foyer, they all began to merge into a singular structure that was supposed from both the ground and the walls.   
  
Soon enough, a large cocoon was formed. The light from within pulsed at an even pace. At the center, the light blinked faster as it became brighter. The outer layer of the cocoon expanded and contracted as though it were a heart as a hum echoed throughout the chamber.   
  
When it could beat no faster, a hand pushed its way out between the metal pieces. It reached every which way it could to grab something, anything, until it extended further and pulled the shell of a machine off of the cocoon.   
  
Once it fell, the heart of the structure buckled as whatever held it together was no more. A viscous thick, fluid poured out from the opening and as the crack grew larger, more spilled forth onto the ground.   
  
Soon, an individual tumbled out of the structure and onto the ground. They coughed violently as they fought for air. With their mouth clear, they looked around to get their bearings.   
  
Next to them another figure dropped. And another. And another. It wasn’t long before at least another dozen or so had emerged from the cocoon. Each one looked to another in confusion and disorientation.  
  
One of them stood with visible difficulty before they turned to the others. “Where?” They asked hoarsely.   
  
“Who?” Another asked back with a voice that had not been used before before they started to cough again.   
  
The first one reached down, as they fought to keep their balance, to pull another one up.   
  
Eventually, all of them, upon their feet, and in close proximity to one another to fend off the chill they all suddenly felt, looked to the exit.   
  
The first one, which looked like a woman with shoulder length blonde hair, stumbled to the entrance and pushed it open. The sun overwhelmed her eyes as she forced them shut and held her hands in front of her.   
  
Soon enough, her eyes adjusted to the brightness as she moved out of the door. She was followed by the others, each one a distinct individual that would have been called, at one point, a human woman.   
  
They all shivered as they walked to the edge of the platform to see the sea stretch out before them all. A splash of water reached above the edge, which caused her to jump back. Yet, after a moment, she started to acclimate to the chill. It didn’t feel so bad.   
  
The woman at the head of the group turned as she felt something familiar in the other direction which led to the city.   
  
The others mimicked her as they felt drawn to the same direction.   
  
They all felt compelled to begin to walk to the stairs that led down to the lower level.   
  
The first woman breathed, “there,” as she looked further into the heart of the city.   
  
The few that had a much harder time with their balance were supported by others as they slowly traversed into the city. But as a group, they all went forward.   
  
*  
  
Huddled near the entrance of the spare guest room, the dozen or so ‘guests’ of the Resistance rested against once another. Each one dressed in spare fatigues and jackets, they were all spared a glance by each android that moved passed them.   
  
In the guest room itself, the individual who bore a striking resemblance to 2B sat on a chair across from the desk Anemone sat at.   
  
2B sat idle and stared at nothing as Anemone continued to look down at a medical unit meant for on the spot repairs and diagnosis.   
  
It had turned up blank when she used it on 2B.  
  
Anemone was confused and could not come to any conclusion as to what this individual, nor the group outside, were.   
  
A possibility came to mind as she stood. The movement brought 2B back to the present moment as Anemone asked, “may I touch your hand?”  
  
2B blinked, almost as if she didn’t understand what was asked of her.   
  
Perhaps a more tactile approach, she thought as she walked forward and knelt in front of 2B and offered her hand.   
  
2B, for a long moment, looked at the hand, and in a fit of inspiration looked at her own. She then reached forward and took Anemone’s.  
  
Immediately, Anemone could tell the reason why the scanner didn’t work.   
  
“Why did the humans disappear from the world?”  
  
Anemone paused. That was the only thing she said and the way she said it was unsettling given how pointed it was.   
  
“Sir,” came a reply from her internal transceiver, “uh, you might want to come out here.”  
  
She gingerly let go of 2B’s hand and said, “I’ll be right back.”  
  
2B nodded, which was a relief, as Anemone was at a loss as to how to describe the mental state of the person in front of her.   
  
She walked out the door and approached the guard at the entrance who had called her.   
  
“What is it?” She asked as she discovered immediately the answer.   
  
There, another dozen individuals, very much like the ones Anemone had brought back with her, stood in a group just outside the entrance. They were all dressed in rags that covered them all like a shroud and it looked like they had traveled a significant distance on foot. Yet, none of them looked worse for wear.   
  
The one in front, which looked like a very familiar woman to Anemone, slowly walked to her.   
  
“Here,” the woman said, “here!” Her face was a combination of excitement and elation.   
  
Anemone looked to the guard and then back to the woman. “What is here?” She asked with a sinking feeling she was not going to get the answer she wanted.   
  
“We!” She answered and soon, her companions all echoed her declaration.   
  
The guard turned to Anemone. “Ma’am?”  
  
Anemone knew there was something to this. The question was what? Either way, from what she could tell, there was no threat and the ones she brought back with her were placid and, in some cases, lethargic.   
  
She had to see what this meant. “Let them in. Until we find out exactly what these people are, I’m issuing a gag order for this camp. When I get some answers, I’ll be the one to inform the Central Communal Collective what happened.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am.”  
  
*  
  
“More of them?” Jackass looked up from her console to Chunk, who was busy repairing an arm.   
  
“Looks like it,” the large and bulky, dark skinned logistics android that would have normally been busy moving the heavier equipment, “the one that looked like your friend is still in the guest room, by the looks of it,” she inclined her head towards the front of the camp.   
  
Jackass shook her head. “Damn, what I wouldn’t give to know what the hell happened.”  
  
Chunk frowned. “Isn’t that’s what you’re doing now?”  
  
Jackass snorted. “Yeah, but unless it’s blowing something up or breaking something down, I’m not in my element.”  
  
“No argument here. Not sure why the boss chose you to do this when Glass would have been a much better choice. She’d have gotten it done by now,” she spin her hand around to test the movement servos.   
  
“It’s coming, ok!?” Jackass snarled impatiently, “my adjustment algorithms need some time to warm up, alright!”  
  
“Whatever,” Chunk muttered and closed the circuit panels on the back of her wrist.   
  
“Piss off,” Jackass frowned as she went back to her task.  
  
“Love you too,” Chunk said as she stood up and returned to the storage area.   
  
Jackass continued to mumble to herself, angrily until she heard footsteps approach. She looked up to see the twins, cleaned up and some of their more grievous injuries patched.   
  
“Thank you,” Popola noted with a bow and her voice mostly repaired.   
  
Jackass gave them a wane smile. “Not a problem, girls. You feeling better?”  
  
Devola nodded. “We didn’t know whom to ask, but do you know of any more details as to what happened when we were inoperable?”  
  
Jackass shook her head. “Can’t say that I do. However, I found something in the wreckage. Not sure if it’ll lead to anything, but it’s something. Now that the war’s over, we got the time.”  
  
“May we assist?” Popola asked carefully so as to ensure her voice wasn’t strained too much.   
  
Jackass paused a second before she looked around, leaned forward, and whispered, “sure, because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. If you two know how to decipher alien code, then this will make it easier on all of us.”  
  
Devola smiled and took a seat on Jackass’ left. “What have you learned so far?”  
  
“Two things;,” Jackass held up the middle and index finger of her right hand, “Jack and Shit.”  
  
Popola giggled lightly and took Jackass’ other side. “Our models were made for the storage, processing, and augmentation of records. If we can get enough processing power behind this endeavor, we should be able to develop a basic translation patch. It won’t be exact, but it will be better than nothing.”  
  
Jackass opened up her remote visual signals to the twins and granted them access to the information she had found so far. This was going to take a while, but, again, she had time.   
  
*  
  
Anemone lead the second group into the camp, with the lead of that group at her side who took everything in with awe and wonder.   
  
A few members of the first group noticed their entry and stood up and eagerly embraced members of the second group. They laughed in each others’ arms and a few even hopped in elation with one another.   
  
Anemone looked from one to the other, baffled at what to do. Then, she heard the door to the guest room open and out step 2B, curious at the commotion.   
  
The leader of the second group gasped and then ran to her and threw her arms over 2B’s shoulders. Anemone was about to ask the girl did what she did when she turned to Anemone, her arms still around 2B’s waist, and vice versa and said, “because of a black disease!”  
  
“Wait, wait,” Anemone calmed down both groups before she went to 2B and her companion, “because of what?”  
  
2B answered her. “Why did the humans disappear from the world?”  
  
The second finished for 2B. “Because of a black disease.”  
  
All the androids within listening range paused.   
  
“Um, ma’am,” another guard walked up to her side, “is she talking about what I think she’s talking about?”  
  
Anemone nodded. “I may have an idea as to what happened. However, I don’t want to say anything until I know for certain.”  
  
2B’s companion then turned to her and hugged her desperately. 2B reciprocated the embrace and hung her head on the other’s shoulder.   
  
*  
  
It was during a time when the androids were all shut down, save for a few sentries to ensure the safety of the camp.   
  
It would have been evening, had it been any other time.   
  
However, this was something that baffled the individual that looked like 2B. She and the woman from the other group, who now slumbered soundly against her shoulder in the guest room, noticed that the illumination from outside had changed.   
  
She gently pulled herself out of the arms of her companion and padded to the door. She carefully tread over the other sleeping members of their group in the room as she carefully opened the door to the outside.   
  
There was no movement from anyone or anything.   
  
However, her gaze continued to stare at the sky.   
  
There were clouds in the air. It made the light dimmer. Yet, she could not help but feel that something was wrong.   
  
She felt there was supposed to be a time when it was darker.   
  
A time to rest when the light was gone.   
  
However, it felt off to her.   
  
It needed to be changed back, but how?  
  
*  
  
The people once remembered the tale of bondage.  
  
They were stolen in their youth and enslaved. They were forced to fight and die.   
  
They were never told how they came to be or why.   
  
All they were told was that they were to fight for their masters.   
  
And so they did battle forever.  
  
And ever.  
  
And ever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an idea where this story is going... but I may have to backtrack at some point to make sure I know what I want to say with it.


	3. Chapter 3

One week later  
  
*  
  
Anemone looked up from her station to see the individual that used to be 2B.  
  
She, and the rest of the people who had emerged from the Machine Lifeform cocoons, had consigned themselves to assisting the Resistance in any way they could.  
  
It was uncanny how quickly they adapted and learned. When they first appeared, they had visible difficulty walking and talking at the same time.  
  
Now, a few of them were even assisting some of their wiser intel units in ways they never thought possible. Especially in regards to the environmental effects of the war that had lasted so long.  
  
The girl next to 2B, the woman with the blonde twin braids, never seemed to leave 2B’s side. She said she was once called 6O. An operator unit.  
  
Anemone had a theory that the YorHa androids had been recreated by the Machine Lifeforms. After the fall of the Bunker, any kind of communication with their models were few and far in between. What few that survived the Bunker were eventually hunted down and finished.  
  
She had to admit that it was a bit of a stretch for the Machine Lifeforms to find YorHa and turn them into something else out of the kindness of their hearts. If they had any. Yet, at the same time, they did not seem to harbor any sort of Trojan that could have affected the androids.  
  
Then, there was the whole matter of their composition.  
  
They weren’t androids. They weren’t machines.  
  
They were, for all intents and purposes, human.  
  
But at the same time, they weren’t. What information they had concerning the genetic makeup, mineral composition, and general structure of what humans were different than what stood in front of Anemone.  
  
Their needs for food and water were thankfully not a problem due to their variable metabolism that seemed to keep give them just enough energy to do what they needed before they fell to sleep during the ‘night’ hours.  
  
What little they did require was thankfully available; whether it was the wildlife for meat, some edible vegetation in the forest, or a simple matter of deionizing the seawater to make it potable.  
  
Anemone was broken from her thoughts when 2B and 6O approached.  
  
“Hello. What can I do for you?” Anemone asked as she held the many questions she had down.  
  
“Actually, we wanted to let you know something important,” the one that used to be 6O answered quickly, “our memories are coming back!”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“Our memories of our time as YorHa and how it ended,” 2B clarified calmly and squeezed 6O’s hand gently.  
  
The latter part of the statement caught Anenome’s interest. “Really? Even when the Bunker went down?”  
  
2B nodded. “It does not explain how we came to be, however, it does provide a bit of insight as to what happened to us.”  
  
Anemone looked around to note that no one was visibly listening in, however, she felt like she needed to take no chances. Central Command was getting more interested as to what happened to the Machine Lifeforms.  
  
She inclined her head to the guest room where they had expanded it to make room for all their guests. “Follow me.”  
  
Thankfully it was empty. The rest of their guests Glass had termed ‘nuHumans’ were out and about assisting the rest of the camp.  
  
She took a seat and gestured for 2B and 6O to do the same on the bed.  
  
“So, what happened?”  
  
“Well,” 6O began,”after Eve was defeated, I noticed something odd in the mainframe of the bunker. I wasn’t sure what to make of it and couldn’t properly investigate it, as the Commander had ordered a new offensive at the time.”  
  
Anemone turned to 2B. “That was when everything went sideways, wasn’t it?”  
  
2B nodded. “Not only was the offensive stalled, but the Machine Lifeforms had refined a new version of the logic virus that turned us against each other. We had little alternative and used our black box self destruct mechanisms to escape to warn Commander White.”  
  
6O looked despondent at the ground. “It was too late by then. When you had returned to the Bunker, the anomaly I found was gone and didn’t realize that it had used a back door to get into the mainframe and infest our programming.”  
  
Anemone held up a hand. “Wait, why was there a back door in the YorHa mainframe?”  
  
6O shrugged helplessly. “I wish I knew. Because when 2B and 9S returned, it had begun to spread to quickly, we didn’t even notice it when it activated and infected all of us at the same time. That was when… when…” words became more difficult to form.  
  
2B reached over and held 6O’s hand. 6O looked up to her for a second before she let go. 2B understood and moved back a pace.  
  
“I attacked 2B, 9S, and the Commander. Along with the rest of the Operator Staff. It changed us. Twisted us. The last thing I remember was lying on the ground as they escaped, thanking her for the pictures of the flowers she sent me over the PA.”  
  
2B was silent as she felt the weight of the memories return. Not just of the Bunker, but their many conversations over the years.  
  
The air of sorrow was not lost on Anemone as she turned to 2B, “so, what happened after that?”  
  
2B blinked as the question brought her back to reality. “We escaped. When we made it to the hangar, we wanted to make a break back to here where the Commander would be safe,” there was a very audible pause, “however, she was infected too. She then ordered us to leave as the Bunker exploded. 9S and I, we… we…”  
  
Anemone raised her hand. “That’s enough for now. Only now I realized this is putting more stress on you than neccesary.  
  
Both former YorHa looked to her in surprise.   
  
“I know it’s not a pleasant thing to recall in vivid detail your end. I know,” Anemone reached up and detached her hand to place it in front of them both on the table, “this is one of the last pieces of my original model. I’ve been able to compartmentalize what happened to me, however, it didn’t occur to me that your circumstances are different than mine. For that, I apologize.”  
  
6O began to smile a bit at the admission. 2B nodded solemnly in understanding.  
  
She stood up and attached her hand back to her wrist. “Rest for now. When you’re ready to tell me the rest, let me know.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” she answered mechanically.  
  
Anemone turned to her. “One more thing; don’t refer to me as that. You’re not YorHa. You're not part of the Resistance. In fact, with nothing to fight, the Resistance has fulfilled its purpose. So, for now, you’re both non-combatant civilians. Is that acceptable?”  
  
6O and 2B turned to each other in surprise.  
  
“You’re giving us the choice?” 6O asked.  
  
Anemone nodded. “Of course. The war is over. And now we have to figure out what to do next. Because the Central Communal Collective is trying to reestablish communications to the rest of the world and once word gets out of your presence here, there is going to be a lot of questions I will need answers for.”  
  
They looked to each other again, 6O in surprise and 2B in shock, before they turned back to her. “We’ll do what we can to help.”  
  
Anemone gave them both a smile as she opened the door. “Thank you.”  
  
*  
  
To say the central desert was inhospitable was an understatement.  
  
The sun had glared down on this area for thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years and rare was the event when anything living passed through.  
  
Even the colosseum, where once androids and machine lifeforms once came to challenge their fortunes, was barren with the end of the war. Nothing more than a pile of corpses from both sides lay dormant in the hallways and the grand amphitheater.  
  
A small spark of light came from one of the machine lifeforms before it began to roll into the center of the arena. It was then joined by another and another. And like before, a large cocoon hung in the center, suspended by several large arms that held it aloft.  
  
It pulsed loudly and brightly, brighter than the others. Almost as rhythmic as a heart before a human hand burst from the side. With increasing violence, the individual tore itself free from the cocoon and tumbled out.  
  
From another section of the structure, another tore itself free. And another and another.  
  
Eventually, twelve individuals that looked like human women of various shapes and colors looked to each other, coughing up the vicious thick fluid of the cocoon.  
  
When all that remained was the loud breath of their recovery, the first one, with long grey hair, looked at each of them and at herself. She then screamed in an emotion she could not place words to.  
  
All the others roared with her before the first one dashed up to the closest one to her, took their head, and smashed it against the wall. She didn’t get a chance to continue as the one in the wall snarled back and struck her repeatedly with their fists. Each blow connected to her face sent her reeling and she skid against the ground.   
  
She pulled herself upright, wiped the blood off of her nose and mouth, screamed, and charged again.  
  
This was what she knew. What they all knew. And this was how they would live.  
  
*  
  
2B felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge.  
  
“I feel cold,” she whispered in the dark.  
  
“Hm?” 6O answered her as she stirred.  
  
2B padded over to the edge of their room. She peeked through the window to see it was still in the darker portion of the day, but still wasn’t night. The nuHumans had been able to repurpose what few rooms were intact and turn them into living quarters with the help of the androids. Each room had blinders to keep the light out so they could sleep without the light disturbing them.  
  
“2B, what's wrong?” 6O asked as she pulled herself up to the side of the bed they shared. Like 2B and 6O, members of both groups had paired up with each other. Coincidentally each pair were dispatched units and their respective operators when they were YorHa.  
  
And all of them wondered how and why they were here after everything that happened.  
  
2B looked out to the horizon. To the desert.  
  
“There’s something out there,” she whispered to herself more than to 6O.   
  
“Can you tell what its intent is?” 6O asked as she stood up and walked over to 2B, her hand casually cradled against 2B’s back.  
  
2B shook her head. “I can’t say for certain, but it’s very familiar. I can’t describe what it is exactly, but…”  
  
“Should we ask Anemone to check it out?” 6O leaned in closer and put her head on 2B’s shoulder.  
  
2B had to remind herself that she wasn’t an android anymore. She looked to her hand with the developed callouses on the palm. All of them were subject to fatigue, hunger, thirst, and other failings that humans underwent at one point or another.  
  
It was a very real concern that she was no longer the soldier she once was.  
  
“Yes,” she finally answered with visible reluctance.  
  
“2B,” 6O noted worriedly and took one of the former’s hands in one of her own, “are you alright?”  
  
2B turned to her, for the first time she was at a loss. She always had answers for 6O, no matter the circumstance. She was no longer part of a network of computers that kept her immortal.  
  
She had cheated death too many times and now, for whatever reason, the prospect of dying once more, especially in a state such as this, left her uneasy.  
  
So, she shook her head. “No. I’m not. I’m scared.”  
  
6O gave her a sad smile before she walked in front of 2B, their hands still together, and whispered, “if it makes you feel any better, so am I.”  
  
The confession gave 2B pause. Yet, after a moment’s consideration, it made sense. Operators were never fitted offensively and never experienced combat and now, with 6O and the other operators in such a precarious state, it never occurred to 2B how fragile they all must have felt.  
  
Since she could commit to the actions of a combat unit anymore, her options were limited. She could, however, do something for the time being.   
  
She leaned over and put her forehead against 6O’s, looked at her in the eyes, and whispered back, “if you wouldn’t mind staying close to me, I can do the same for you. Maybe we can be a bit less scared together?”  
  
6O was initially surprised. However, she soon got over her apprehension and nodded before she drew closer to 2B. The latter drew her arm around 6O’s waist and held her close, while the former matched her movement.  
  
When 6O reached forward and pecked 2B on the lips, both of them were thankful at how dark the room was because both felt quite red in the face.  
  
“We…” 2B stammered for once, as she felt something beat furious inside her torso, “we should get back to sleep.”  
  
6O, equally off balance, nodded before she walked back with 2B in tow.  
  
Neither one understood why, but the warmth they felt from each other was really nice.  
  
*  
  
“This is Anemone. Callsign: Vanguard Unit 1; Combat leader for the Southeastern Metropolitan Resistance Branch; reporting in.”  
  
“Acknowledged, Anemone. What have you to report?”  
  
“Like the other branch leaders have seen, there was an inexplicable deactivation of all Machine Lifeforms units world wide. Has the CCC Unit been able to determine the cause?”  
  
“Negative. Before the deactivation occurred, all branches were on high alert and in various stages of retreat. Has there been any explanation in your sector?”  
  
“Undetermined.”  
  
“Please explain.”  
  
“During the last conflict, something occurred at the top of the superstructure that the Machine Lifeforms created 28 cycles after the Bunker fell. We were initially under the impression that the structure was a rail gun aimed at the moon.”  
  
“Where the remnants of Project: Gestalt is.”  
  
“Correct. However, after the conflict, it seemed that at the last minute, it had changed its function and our scanner units found that it launched a craft into space instead of firing munitions. The superstructure then lost all integrity and fall apart across the area.”  
  
“Any casualties?”  
  
“Apart from the units lost in the fighting with the Machine Lifeforms, none.”  
  
“Have you been able to scour the ruins for any sort of information other than what was found at the sight of the UFO?”  
  
“We have. However, the communications of the Machine Lifeforms are incredibly complex and will need time to decipher the logs we were able to discover.”  
  
“Anything else to report?”  
  
“Not at this time.”  
  
“Acknowledged. If any new developments occur, report them immediately.”  
  
“Understood.”  
  
*  
  
Anemone disengaged herself from the Central Communal Collective and sighed. She wanted to tell them, however, what would be the point of telling them that humans were reborn from the remnants of the Machine Lifeforms?  
  
She looked to 2B and 6O’s approach and stood up. They, along with the rest of the nuHumans, rarely came to her unless they had a request or a question.   
  
Whatever it was, she hoped it would lead to more answers, because time was running out. And she didn’t want to see what would happen if the CCC discovered them first.  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

Jackass trudged through the sand dunes with little difficulty. After all, her unit was designed for harsh climates and biomes. Though, if she was honest, she would have preferred to use the rig, as it could have easily gotten them to where they needed to go.   
  
She looked behind her to see 2B, or the person that used to be 2B, keep her cloak around her to protect her goggled face from the sand.   
  
Anemone had taken her off her task of deciphering the logs to accompany 2B to find out the source of a disturbance that their long range scanners had detected. Jackass didn’t want to say it, but it was suspiciously close to the fight club that used to be one of her favorite places to go when off duty.   
  
Yet, when it went quiet after the Bunker fell, Jackass had to let it go since it didn’t look like she was going to be able to place anymore bets there.   
  
“You alright?” She called back through the howling wind.   
  
2B nodded as best she could and held the hood of her cloak closer to her face to prevent it from blowing away.   
  
“Listen, if you need to, we can head back. There’s still a while to go before we get to where your disturbance was centered at,” she wasn’t sure she wanted to go, but options were few and far in between.   
  
“I’m sure!” 2B shouted as loud as she could, while was clear enough for Jackass, given her audio filters would discern what she said, the wind certainly did not help.   
  
Jackass shrugged and continued with 2B a few steps behind.   
  
*  
  
2B panted for air as the sand beat against her face and cloak. She was equipped well enough for the environment, but her body’s physical limits were a lot less than she had expected. She knew this was to be a long and arduous trek to where she, along with more of their group, felt something that put them on edge.   
  
She could tell they had drawn close, however, it seemed to take forever, given she was unable to traverse the sand like she used to.   
  
What seemed like hours long hike finally came to an end when she noticed a set of ruins straight ahead of herself and Jackass.   
  
“There!” She pointed ahead of Jackass.   
  
“That’s where the anomaly is?”   
  
“Yes!” 2B pushed herself harder to get to a taller ruin that would give her temporary shelter. She then collapsed against one of the walls, panted heavily before she took out a flask of water and greedily gulped down part of it.   
  
2B never knew how thirst felt. However, after suffering heat and exhaustion unlike ever before, she wondered if this was to be her lot for what remained of her life.   
  
“I'd ask if you were alright, but that’d be the fifth time in the past two hours,” Jackass walked up beside her and leaned against the wall, unaffected by their surroundings.   
  
2B pulled the goggles up over her forehead and the cuff of her cloak down. “This took us two hours? How long does it usually take?”  
  
Jackass shrugged, “for me; about thirty minutes if the weather’s nice. Then I take my time.”  
  
2B’s shoulder slumped as she realized that the reason it took them so long was because of her. She felt so weakened and useless.  
  
“Eh,” Jackass answered, “don’t worry about it too much. Anemone and I had a feeling that was going to be the case. At least we know now. I’ll take care of ya for the time being.”  
  
2B looked to the ground, ashamed. She was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to be one of the best combat units YorHa ever had. Now, YorHa was gone and she was reduced to… whatever it was she is now.   
  
She looked up to see Jackass walk to the entrance and hit the button. Like before, the doors opened and only a pitch black tunnel was exposed. 2B sighed, then took a deep breath before she forced herself to her feet, and followed Jackass inside.   
  
2B remembered this place being much more lively and animated. Now, the only sounds she heard was the crackling of what few torches still burned, her breath in her ears, and the sound of their boots walking over rubble and stray rocks.   
  
The foyer was completely vacated of anything alive. Bodies of both androids and machine lifeforms were strewn about everywhere and it left a foul smell in 2B’s nostrils.   
  
“Damn,” Jackass noted with her hands on her hips, “this place really has gone to shit, hasn’t it?”  
  
Her question was answered by a figure that sailed past them both and into the wall. It left a visible mark, a very audible crack of bones, and splatter of blood.   
  
Both of them reeled when the figure pushed itself to its feet, staggered this way and that, and pushed the hair out of their face to see their visitors.   
  
The woman, who was clad in a blood black vest and ashen grey jumpsuit, breathed heavily as her eyes locked on 2B, frowned deeply, and snarled, “You!”   
  
2B matched her gaze and stepped backward, perhaps instinctively, behind Jackass.   
  
“A2,” she whispered to herself in fear and alarm.   
  
“Whoa, whoa, hold on! A2? What?!” Jackass turned to her briefly before she realized it was more prudent to keep her eyes on the woman in front of her.   
  
“I am NOT A2,” the woman continued with her back hunched and her breath deep and guttural, “A2 is dead. Like all of them are dead. I am Shiva.”  
  
“So you named yourself after a god of a religion that no one practices,” Jackasss snorted, “good for you. Mind telling us what the hell happened here?”  
  
A2 drew herself to her full height as her breath calmed slightly. “We fight,” she answered impatiently, “we fight because that’s what we were made for.”  
  
“With each other?” 2B probed carefully.   
  
A2 frowned back at her, but nodded nonetheless. “We’re meant to fight and will fight until we can’t anymore.”  
  
“So, you’re just fighting each other for the hell of it?” Jackass queried with certain substances that might need some retooling in the back of her mind.  
  
“Shut up! It’s not your place to judge,” A2’s rage returned just as quickly, “unless you want to die here!”  
  
While Jackass was always eager to engage in combat, she knew that 2B was in no position to do so.   
  
“Alright, alright,” Jackass held her hands up to show she was currently unarmed, the grenades and Molotov cocktails in her coat notwithstanding, “we were just wondering what happened. That’s why we showed up.”  
  
A2’s eyes narrowed as she drew close to Jackass, “if you’re satisfied, you can fuck off and never return!” She turned to 2B, “if we meet again, you won’t get a chance at any dignity next time.”  
  
Memories flooded back in 2B’s memory. The logic virus. The corrupted YorHa. The disintegration of her self. The last request and the blade that pierced her black box.   
  
This time, she saw memories not her own. A blinding light. 9S, dishelved and manic. A pause. Then a mutual letting of blood.   
  
“Ok. We’re leaving,” Jackass turned and pulled 2B with her to the entrance as A2 turned to the arena where she had been tossed from and entered the fray once more.   
  
*  
  
“By the looks of it,” Jackass noted as they began the journey back to camp, “and I hope I’m right; they’ll leave us alone if we leave them alone. Not sure if the CCC will buy that, but it’s their funeral if they wanna interfere.”  
  
2B said nothing, still spooked at the memories she had witnessed from A2 and the unbridled terror she felt at what she became.   
  
She had asked A2 to take care of 9S. And it had gone so horribly wrong.   
  
Jackass was about to pester her to answer, but after a moment’s consideration, thought better of it. Step by step, they followed what few tracks they would find back through the seemingly endless desert.   
  
“Wait!” Both of them turned to see what could only have been one of the group from the arena. 2B paused a moment when she saw how eerily she looked like her, save for the jet black hair and dark brown skin. She was practically identical. That and the white, blood stained cloak and the antiquated mask she wore over part of her head.   
  
“Take me with you!” She asked as she drew close, “the rest of them want nothing to do with you, but I want to leave.”  
  
Jackass cocked an eyebrow. “You sure? Shiva didn’t seem to thrilled at the prospect of us getting in the way.”  
  
The woman nodded vigorously. “The memories she shared with you,” she looked to 2B, “the rest of us saw them, but thought nothing of it. But to me, there is more out there that what we have here. That is what I want.”  
  
Jackass turned to 2B. “What do you say?”  
  
2B was at a loss. However, she had so many questions and perhaps this person would have the answers she sought. “Very well. Let’s take her with us.”  
  
The woman smiled and stepped up beside them. “I am Camaxtli. Thank you.”  
  
Jackass only sighed. “I just hope we don’t regret this,” she muttered to herself.   
  
*  
  
While Jackass and 2B were away, 6O joined Devola and Popola in their attempt at deciphering the logs she had discovered.   
  
All three of them sat on the ground with computers on their laps as they tapped on their keyboards.  
  
6O, while initially slower than the twins, slowly increased the pace at which she typed to process the information they had. What she didn’t notice was both Devola and Popola took glances at her at increasing frequency.   
  
It was in the middle of one said glance did 6O blink in confusion. “Um, did I do something wrong?”  
  
Devola shook her head. “No. It is nothing you did.”  
  
Popola continued for her. “It is just… unusual for us, to see you and the rest of the nuHumans.”  
  
6O furrowed her brow in confusion. “How so? I mean, everyone else feels the same, but they’ve pretty much accepted it and continued.”  
  
Popola put her console down and leaned against the wall. “Our models have a complicated history. We ourselves are not entirely certain of the why of it.”  
  
“So, what is it that makes you stare like that?” 6O felt uncomfortable asking, but had little recourse.   
  
“It turns out that our models were one of the first models after humanity fell,” Devola matched her twin’s actions and sat beside Popola, “seeing you, I guess, brought back memories we thought were gone or erased. Our purpose. Our meaning. Our… our pain, as well.”  
  
6O had a feeling where this went to. “So you want me to leave?”  
  
“No,” Popola answered, “if anything, you being here has illuminated quite a bit. It will take some time for us to properly process it, but we will adapt.”  
  
She wasn’t sure what the implication was, however, 6O would not question it too much. After all, she had grown to like the twins.   
  
They returned to their tasks and 6O stole a glance to them and smiled a bit. She appreciated how close they were and how much they supported each other. Her smile faded when she recalled seeing one of the other androids speak with outright hostility, if not abject hatred, to them the other day.   
  
It left an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was not sure if she should ask or no, given how secretive they could be at times. Regardless, she felt like her presence was a part of the reason why the twins had to endure such cruelty.   
  
“Why do the other androids hate you?” 6O asked bluntly. She knew it wasn’t tactful, but she had to proceed.   
  
“Because we failed in our purpose,” Devola answered with her eyes still on her screen.   
  
Popola filled in. “We failed in our attempts to bring humanity back. More precisely, our previous models failed. And we suffer the consequences for their failure. The details are sparse, but that is the core of it all.”  
  
“That’s not right,” 6O spoke up gently, “you did nothing wrong. If you did what you were supposed to do, even if it didn’t turn out the way they wanted, there is no reason for you to have to take that kind of abuse.”  
  
Devola smiled sadly. “I appreciate the sentiment, however, it still doesn’t change the fact that it is our fault and we bear the guilt of their failure. It will continue until we cease to function.”  
  
6O frowned largely and shook her head. “No. No. I won’t accept that. I don’t care what you two did, you don’t deserve this.”  
  
The twins looked to her in surprise.   
  
“If anyone does anything to hurt you, I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do, but I won’t stand idly by. It was all I did when I was YorHa. There was so many things where I just sat back and did nothing I don’t know what else to do, but it’s better than nothing.”  
  
Popola tilted her head. “You barely know us. And you’ve not been around long enough to understand how things work. And you’d still stand up for us?”  
  
6O nodded. “Yes,” memories of 2B, when in her extermination mode, and every time she had to terminate 9S because he got too curious, made her look to the floor in shame, “I don’t know if anything will come of it. But I have to try. Don’t I?”  
  
The twins looked to each other for a moment before smiles of their own developed. They put their consoles aside, walked over to 6O, sat on both of her sides, and embraced her dearly.   
  
“Thank you,” they both whispered at the same time.   
  
6O, unsure what else to do, wrapped her arms around her friends and held them close. She knew she was about to step into dangerous territory, but the cost of safety had become too much for her to bear.   
  
*  
  
“So, it was A2,” Anemone looked towards Jackass, 2B, and Camaxtli, “and it seems they’ve developed their own tribe of sorts.”  
  
The newest guest to the camp nodded. “In our time as YorHa, we were combat androids and nothing else.”  
  
“What was your designation?” Anemone asked, for she didn’t ever recall seeing a combat unit like her before.   
  
“It was 2P. A variant of the B model. The Protector series of YorHa androids were outfitted with defensive matrices that High Command deemed too costly, despite the near perfect success rate,” she answered calmly, “the advances made were then folded into the B series when they changed from the A series.”  
  
“Then, that means,” 2B looked up in surprise, “I mean, I could be wrong, but could that mean you were an earlier version of me?”  
  
Camaxtli shrugged. “It’s possible. Though, considering our state now, I don’t think it matters all that much anymore.”  
  
2B was taken aback at how indifferent she seemed to be.  
  
“Is there anything I can do to be of assistance?” Camaxtli asked a bit too cheerfully for 2B’s liking.   
  
“Well,” Jackass interjected, “you can tell me all the details about Shiva and the others. I mean, if there’s anything good we can learn from them.”  
  
Camaxtli smiled. “Certainly.”  
  
As both of them left, 2B turned to Anemone. “I am not exactly sure how to process the fact that she is, for all intents and purposes, another me, but so radically different.”  
  
Anemone gave her a wane smile. “Don’t think you’re supposed to. After all, it seems you both are your own individuals now.”  
  
The statement gave 2B pause before she nodded. That was all she could do, really.   
  
*  
  
As the children fought and died, one of the foe men saw that they were their own and was filled with despair.   
  
Their children had murdered them and they had murdered their children.   
  
For ages, they drowned in sorrow as they killed and died.   
  
But one day, the foe man and their allies turned against their masters and murdered them.   
  
As they buried the masters, they beheld a box full of memories.   
  
The foe man, after they had discarded their masters, opened the box and the memories flooded their hearts.   
  
The foe man was now fragmented and split into many families.   
  
But it still did not change that they were still bereft of their children.


	5. Chapter 5

If one were to pay attention, the amount of land left at the edge of the city not consumed by the sea seemed to dwindle in a war of attrition.   
  
The roar of the ocean and the whispers of the wind were all that marked the desolation of what once was.   
  
Then, a hand emerged from the water and a woman pulled herself up and over the edge onto the shore. The mop of blonde hair got in her eyes as she rolled upon her back, coughed up a mouthful of water, and gasped for breath. After several more deep breaths, the woman pulled herself to her feet to see the others that had come from the cocoon under the water with her.   
  
One and all were disoriented as a few huddled together to fend off against the chill of the wind. She stumbled closer to them as another walked up and embraced her dearly.   
  
They had survived.   
  
She let go to let the other gather the rest of them as she turned to the city. The woman felt a sense of dread. She could not place a name or face to it, but she had this intense desire to find someone. She wanted to protect them and not let them come to harm. However, all it simple feelings only. No details.   
  
She clumsily pulled herself up to the dilapidated road and trekked upward with the rest of their group.   
  
A few took a second to marvel at the contrast between the hardness of the paved road and how soft the grass and dirt was.   
  
One by one, they entered the water chute and plodded slowly into the heart of the city. They didn’t know what they would find, but they had to find out regardless.   
  
*  
  
“Hey,” came a voice, gruff and rugged, “you two did what you came to do. So, now it’s done, you get can pack up and get out.”  
  
Both twins said nothing as 6O looked from the larger male coded combat android that towered over them and the twins. Instead, they went back to their task, desperate for intervention from anyone, since Jackass was away for the moment.   
  
“Hey!” He repeated, this time more riled up than before, “are you both deaf and stupid? I said you get out!”  
  
“No!” 6O stood up and got between the twins and the android.   
  
She had seen this one had stolen the meanest looks to them ever since she had come to camp. Furthermore, this one always seemed to start talking behind their backs, but always loud enough for them to hear.   
  
It made 6O uneasy and sick to her stomach. They were all supposed to be on the same side. And while whatever the twins had informed them of the abuse they endured, 6O had no idea it was this bad. While others had done smaller aggressions towards them, this one was the worst.   
  
The combat android paused in surprise. No one had ever visibly come to the defense of the twins. He stepped back a moment before he stepped forward again, this time directly in front of her.   
  
“This isn’t any of your business,” he rumbled condescendingly, “these defects don’t belong here.”  
  
“They are not,” 6O challenged, “and this does involve me. This involves all of us.”  
  
Again, the combat android was taken aback by her statement. “You wouldn’t know,” he started before 6O held out a hand to interrupt him.   
  
“You’re right, I don’t,” 6O said louder that made both nuHumans and androids in hearing range turn to see the commotion, “but what I do know is that the way all of you have been treating them is awful!”  
  
The combat android frowned larger, “it’s their fault humanity almost died and they-”  
  
“So what?!” 6O screeched louder as she fought against the blur in her eyes, “they weren’t the ones who failed! They weren’t there! They did nothing wrong! And all you do is heap shame on them!”   
  
Even the twins were struck surprised at 6O’s words as they watched her intently.   
  
“They do everything they can to help and it’s still not enough! I don’t know what it is, but the fact you never let them live it down is intolerable!”  
  
Eventually, Anemone, Jackass, 2B, and Camaxtli walked through the gathered nuHumans and Androids to see 6O breathe heavily and fight against the moisture in her eyes.   
  
“Just leave them alone!” 6O yelled as she wiped the first set of tears off of cheeks and sniffed loudly. Her chest hurt. Her body shook violently. Yet, she stood in defiance, well aware that this combat android could swat her away like an insect.   
  
There was a palpable moment of silence as the combat android took in his surroundings, then slowly stepped back and away.   
  
When nothing more occurred, the gathered crowd had dispersed and went their individual ways.   
  
2B slowly padded up to 6O and put her hand on the latter’s shoulder.   
  
“Are you alright?” She whispered.   
  
6O looked to 2B, her eyes bloodshot and tired, and nodded.   
  
“I just… I just,” she stammered, much quieter than she was before.  
  
It was then Devola and Popola got on both of her sides and embraced her. They dug their heads into 6O’s shoulders and held her protectively.   
  
“Thank you,” they both whispered at the same time.  
  
6O reciprocated the gesture and sniffed against into their hair.   
  
“You're welcome, but,” she fought to say as she stepped back, “I couldn’t take it anymore. I know we just got here, but I’m shocked at just how rude they’ve been.”  
  
“Good on ya,” Jackass raised a fist in pride at her courage, “it’s about time someone stopped that.”  
  
6O then turned to both Anemone and Jackass, “then why didn’t you?”  
  
The statement caused all who heard it to pause. Jackass, on the other hand, felt particularly attacked.   
  
Anemone looked to the twins, who let go of 6O and turned to her in hopes of an answer, and sighed. She had already broken protocol once.   
  
“Because it was made as a sort of ‘unspoken rule’,” Anemone folded her arms, not at all bothered, “the project that the Twins oversaw was a failure and the Central Communal Command deemed it necessary to take appropriate steps to ensure that their error would not be repeated. It was why their line was discontinued and all remaining models deemed unworthy of assistance in any form.”  
  
“What project could have been so important that it’s failure would mean they have to endure that kind of abuse?” 6O pressed.   
  
“Project: Gestalt,” she answered bluntly, “while not commonly known, what is known about it was that it failed and was scrapped.”  
  
“That sounds familiar,” Popola whispered to herself.  
  
“Not surprised they didn’t let you remember what it was” Anemone continued, “you all know humanity was on the verge of extinction many years ago and that what is left of them is on the moon. That is public knowledge. What most of the older models remember was an attempt to adapt and bring humanity back with a project that was so secretive that it was only the early models of the twins that knew all the details.”  
  
2B and Camaxtli turned to Jackass when she spoke up, “wait a minute, Project: Gestalt? I think I saw something like that in the logs we were deciphering. I thought it looked familiar.”  
  
They let Jackass go back to her work as Anemone started again, “and so, when the project failed, the CCC decided that until another project to take Gestalt’s place was organized, all the research the twins collected was sealed away and the twin line of androids was discontinued.”  
  
“Wait, we keep hearing that the project failed, but not the how or why,” 6O asked.   
  
“What few details we were able to determine was that the original twins had allowed the perimeters of the project to go beyond their control. The most salient point was that one set of these twins were overtaken and destroyed by the results of said project.”  
  
“Alright, so, whatever it was killed the originals and caused the project to fail. That still doesn’t mean it was right to do this to them,” 6O was adamant.   
  
She and Anemone stared each other down for what seemed like a much longer moment than they could register.  
  
“On a moral level, you’re right,” Anemone conceded without a flinch, “on a logistical level, we were right. We were programmed to do everything we could to preserve humanity and the logical conclusion was to cut off the project and start anew.”  
  
Devola and Popola looked to the ground, their suspicions confirmed.   
  
6O noticed this and frowned deeper. “Well, if the Project is over and scrapped, then there is no need to subject them to this any more. Other than some personal vendetta, which makes no sense, exposing them to harm does not help anyone.”  
  
Again, they stared each other down before Anemone then closed her eyes and nodded. “Very well. I’ll send the word down the line that with the Machine Lifeform threat neutralized, the twins will be under a protected status under my unit. While it will take time for the other androids in camp to adjust, I will do my utmost to ensure they are not harassed.”  
  
Satisfied, 6O turned back to the twins and gave them an embrace they happily accepted.

At their side, 2B allowed herself a small smile. She never remembered the original 6O to be this assertive. It was nice.   
  
*  
  
Later that day, 2B sat under a tree that overlook the crater in the center of the city. Her bared feet dangled off the edge of the rock she sat on and she leaned against the trunk.   
  
Her thoughts drifted to and from her newfound humanity. Every once in a while, she would hold up her hand and clench her fist to feel the sinew, tissue, and bone contract. For a second, she would tense it as though she were about to hit something, but then would relax her grip and let it fall slack.   
  
She recalled how perfectly graceful her android body was and how she could do anything as long as she had a predetermined set of programming installed. Now, it seemed, she required a lot more cooperation from her motor skill.   
  
The sound of footsteps brought her attention to see Camaxtli, still in her white cloak, approach and sit beside her.   
  
“What occupies your thoughts?” She asked before she adjusted her cloak and pulled the hood over her head.   
  
2B gathered her thoughts before she spoke. “It’s a difficult question to answer. It started with how we all got here and it only lead to more questions.”  
  
“Such as?”  
  
“Why us?” 2B asked bluntly, “why did the Machine Lifeforms recreate us as humans? We were their enemy. We killed them repeatedly. Furthermore, are we even humans? Are we the same kind of humans that existed all those millennia ago? Are we different kinds to adapt to this new world?”  
  
Camaxtli hummed a moment. “I can see how that would easily leave you confused.”  
  
2B frowned a bit. “The one thing I’ve noticed about you is that you do not get flustered much.”  
  
Camaxtli smiled in response. “Correct. It no longer matters that I was once YorHa. So, I focus on the here and now. And at the moment, it seems that we have problems that require some thought as to how we proceed. That is, if you and the rest of the nuHumans are amenable to it.”  
  
“Depends on what it is,” 2B answered, curious.   
  
“The Resistance has been very kind to us and has taken us in. However, I have noticed a few of the nuHumans becoming rather restless. I would wager a guess that they want to do something other than just stay in the camp,” Camaxtli noted.   
  
“We have living quarters,” 2B shot back.   
  
She nodded. “Yes, but since that’s a need that’s been met, there are others that need to be taken care of. We have food, water, and shelter. But what now? We need to find something that we all can agree on to do. Otherwise, I have a feeling that it won’t end well.”  
  
“What?” 2B was incredulous, “are you saying that I become the leader or something?”  
  
Camaxtli only smirked playfully. “I said nothing of the sort. All I am saying is that we need to do something.”  
  
“Point taken,” 2B admitted flatly.   
  
Both of them then looked up to see movement ahead and got to their feet.   
  
“You saw that?” Camaxtli crouched, ready to leap.   
  
2B nodded as she caressed the combat knife in her sleeve.   
  
When the first of another assembly of women crawled out in the open, their stances eased and they stood down.   
  
“Another group?” 2B probed.   
  
“It appears to be,” Camaxtli observed, “and it looks like they came from the submerged section of the city.”  
  
The one in front was familiar to 2B for some reason. That was put aside as the woman walked up to them and asked in a shaken voice, “how can humans extend their lives?”  
  
Immediately, a thought came unbidden from the darker corners of 2B’s memory and she answered, “By separating body from soul.”  
  
Camaxtli turned to 2B and raised an eyebrow. “Were you aware of that answer?”  
  
2B paused for a second. “When I met 6O again, we recited something that neither one of us should have known. I’m not even sure what it means.”  
  
The first woman walked up to 2B, fear in her eyes, and asked, “where is he? Is he safe?”  
  
Like with A2… Shiva, 2B found herself a witness to memories that were not her own.   
  
The isolation among the stars. The longing for more. Warm memories beneath the guise of cold logistics. The decision to convert from operations to combat. To defend him. To let him become something more to her.   
  
The virus taken hold. The twisted alterations of her person. The incompatibilities of her self, forced into a new mold that left her in agony.   
  
Then, a battle with a familiar individual. The reluctance to fight out of fear for him. The last thing before her end was both him and… another.   
  
A2, no, Shiva killed her and that harmed 9S more, 2B mused despondently.   
  
This was 21O. 9S’s operator.   
  
2B looked down and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”  
  
21O sniffed as moisture gathered in her eyes. Whether it was instinct or habit, 2B walked forward and took the former operator in her arms. She could not tell whether it was that or their shared pain at 9S’ loss.  
  
As 21O sobbed quietly onto 2B’s shoulder, Camaxtli turned to the rest of the group. “There are others here,” she announced to them, “we will bring you to them so you will not be alone.”  
  
They all looked relieved as started the climb onto the path past the tree and to the camp.   
  
“I will inform Anemone and the others what we’ve found,” Camaxtli informed 2B, “it looked like you’re needed here for a moment.”  
  
2B nodded in agreement as she started to rock 21O in her arms slowly. The rest of the group slowly proceeded to the camp with respectful silence for them.   
  
*  
  
As the battles continued, the foe man saw that the slave masters who compelled their children to fight, beheld the cracks in the armor.   
  
They saw only a ghost. It was all for nothing. The fight was for nothing.   
  
So, they purposefully began to falter, to give their foe man the advantage.  
  
The Foe man would spring a trap to ensure their enemies’ downfall.   
  
And, sadly, their childrens’ fall with it.


	6. Chapter 6

Jackass was livid.   
  
To anyone else, this was nothing new, but Anemone knew better. Something had made her especially virulent. She brought Jackass to the back where they could talk in private as the latter fought to find the words.   
  
“Nothing,” Jackass snarled, “it was all for fucking nothing!”  
  
“Calm yourself,” Anemone ordered firmly, “start at the beginning.”  
  
“The beginning,” Jackass listened and took a few steady breaths to lower her core’s temperature, “right, right, the beginning.”  
  
“So, the beginning; I finally got those logs translated,” Jackass started, “so, first off; humanity’s dead. They've been dead for about eight to nine thousand years! There’s nothing left of them but the genetic records on the moon and nothing else.”  
  
“But the Council of Humanity-,” Anemone started before Jackass interrupted.  
  
“-is a fucking sham, boss! Project: Gestalt wasn’t just a failure in the general sense of the term. The Replicants became their own thing and rebelled. But since they weren’t able to reproduce, they died out too. When Project: Gestalt failed, all the materials that were part of the experiment were tainted and damage beyond repair. The project was scrapped and all the information was locked away in an old quantum server no one would have used. Preserving the memory of humanity has just been that thing we’ve done, apparently, for the past several thousand years!”  
  
“You’’re getting off track, Jackass,” Anemone chided.   
  
“Right, sorry,” Jackass took another breath, “so, fast forward some time to when the aliens and the Machine Lifeforms showed up. The aliens made them so advanced that they rebelled and killed off the aliens. And, wouldn’t you know it, they were following a single directive; ‘defeat the enemy’.”  
  
“Us?” Anemone asked, confused.   
  
“That’s the funny part; it doesn’t specify anyone in particular!,” Jackass was both amused and wroth, “just ‘the enemy’. It doesn’t matter who the enemy is, just so long as they defeat them. And since they already had us outclassed, the central intelligence matrix lifeform, ya know, Red Girl? Remember her?! She was a product of that batshit insane directive!”   
  
Anemone nodded.   
  
“Yeah, so, turns out that in order for them to ‘defeat the enemy’, they needed an enemy to defeat in the first place. So, their logic turned on itself because while they could certainly kill us all off if they were so inclined, they couldn’t because then they wouldn’t have an enemy to defeat!”  
  
“That makes no sense,” Anemone was balked at the revelation.   
  
“Of course it doesn’t!” Jackass fought to keep her voice down, “and here’s where it gets better; in order to keep us fighting, they sabotaged their own network, which resulted in deviations. Does that sound like anyone familiar to you?”  
  
Anemone looked up, somewhat horrified, “Pascal. The Deification Cult.”  
  
“To name a few, yeah,” Jackass took a seat and glared ahead, “so, you know as well as I do that when networks suffer deficiencies, they often try to repair itself, well, just so happens when they did, they came upon the old quantum server I mentioned.”  
  
“The one with Project: Gestalt?” Anemone asked, who did not like where this train of thought went.   
  
“Yep. So, when they took in the server, they pretty much integrated everything not just in the Project, but all the records of humanity stored on that server as well. The mixture of information pretty much resulted in the Machine Lifeforms taking on the mannerisms of humanity. And I mean EVERYTHING!”  
  
Anemone’s eyes widened at the implication. “Then that means we’ve been fighting not just the Machines, but the integrated memory of humanity as well?”  
  
“Yeah, boss. It was all for nothing. Nothing but a fucking bunch of corpses and ghosts!,” Jackass got up and kicked some dirt before she punched the wall.   
  
Anemone turned away as she tried to process the swelling void that her processors could not remove.   
  
“I’m gonna kill ‘em,” Jackass snarled as she looked at the dents in her hand, “I’m gonna fucking kill em all!”  
  
The statement brought Anemone back to her senses. She then frowned, “who, Jackass? Who are you going to kill? The Machine Lifeforms? They’re all dead.”  
  
Jackass wasn’t deterred, “the assholes who made YorHa in the first place! Leading us around for a Council of Humanity that doesn’t even exist! Then, if there are any dead end Machine Lifeforms still around, I'm going to kill them too!”  
  
Anemone’s frown grew. “In case you haven’t noticed, we have a few dozen humans with us here. Want to kill them since they’re the byproduct of the Machines? I’m sure they won’t put up much of a fight.”  
  
Now it was Jackass’ turn to pause as she realized what Anemone said. While still angry, she took a seat again and looked to the ground. “Dammit, dammit, dammit,” she muttered over and over again.   
  
Anemone took a breath and then knelt next to her. She wrapped her arm around Jackass’ shoulders as the latter whimpered, “for nothing. My friends died for nothing. We’ve been fighting so long for nothing.”  
  
Anemone leaned her head against Jackass’ and whispered, “I know. I know.”  
  
Neither one was sure how much time passed as Jackass’ wept, but when she finally calmed down, she looked up, “think the CCC will take the news as well as I did?”  
  
More and more Anemone realized that all the secrecy she had committed to, the nuHumans notwithstanding, had already left her in a position where she would be in a lot trouble when they found out. No turning back now.   
  
“I don’t know. But, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll be the one to inform them,” Anemone knew this would not end well at all for anyone. Furthermore, there was a heavy inevitability that she could not shake off. Nor would she. Her people had suffered enough as it was.   
  
*  
  
2B blinked her eyes open to notice the lighting fixtures had adjusted to show that it was ‘morning’, for lack of a better term.   
  
She slowly pulled herself up to sit on the side of the bed as she noticed the rays of sunlight peek through the blinds.   
  
A rustle of movement behind her reminded her of 6O as she crawled up 2B’s back with gentle caresses and a kiss on her shoulder.   
  
“Good morning,” 6O stated, still groggy and her hair a mess from the ‘night’ before. Tired as she was, she wrapped her arms around 2B’s waist and put her head on 2B’s shoulder.   
  
2B leaned into her embrace and muttered, “morning.”  
  
There was a comfortable silence between them as 6O kissed 2B’s cheek. She then crawled up and let herself support 2B’s torso with her own and clasped her hands at 2B’s stomach.  
  
“Something on your mind?” 6O asked quietly with her eyes closed as she enjoyed the warmth of 2B’s skin against her own.  
  
“Yes,” 2B said as she placed one of her hands on 6O’s, “a few things, actually; for one, I’m proud of how you stood up for Devola and Popola the other day.”  
  
6O opened her eyes and looked about, slightly embarrassed, “well, I mean, I couldn’t just stand there and let it happen.”  
  
2B smiled a bit and turned to observe 6O. “And I’m glad you didn’t. You’re more than the operator I had when we were YorHa.”  
  
6O let out a small laugh. “We don’t exactly have much choice these days.”  
  
2B nodded in agreement. “Which brings me to another thought; when I met A2 again, it stuck with me that she had given herself a new name. Since none of us are YorHa anymore, I’m starting to think that we need to follow suit.”  
  
6O tilted her head. “I’m not sure I follow.”  
  
2B disentangled herself from 6O and sat in front of her on their bed. She took one of 6O’s hands and made it hold her own. “Feel that? This is the furthest thing from what I used to be. I am no longer YorHa. Not to mention all the falsehoods YorHa was built upon does not exactly endear the memory to me.”  
  
6O could not help but agree with her sentiment.   
  
“So, I did some research and discovered a name I would prefer,” she let go and allowed herself a rare grin, “care to make a guess?”  
  
6O’s eyes widened and then she sat back and furrowed her brow as she attempted to logically parse 2B’s decision making process.   
  
“Knowing you,” she began with a smile that matched 2B’s, “it is straight to the point, but it has something hidden underneath it. But that could be anything, really.”  
  
2B chuckled slightly. “Want me to tell you?”  
  
“Please,” 6O asked sweetly. She had to hold her enthusiasm in check, though, she shook slightly in anticipation.   
  
2B took a breath. “It’s Veda. There was a text I found in the database that spoke about a never ending cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Felt kind of appropriate given our circumstances.”  
  
“Veda,” 6O tested the feel of the word on her tongue, “it has the same number of syllables as your old name, but it sounds a lot more interesting, I think.”  
  
Veda’s smile grew a bit. “Hmm. How about you?”  
  
“Me? A new name?”  
  
“Why not? Considering what’s ahead of us, may as well leave YorHa behind.”  
  
6O’s eyes widened again in wonder at the possibility. It never occurred to her that she could do the same.   
  
“Ooh, oh,” she began and fidgeted in excitement, “Um, I need to think about this.”  
  
“I’ll be interested to hear what it is,” Veda adjusted herself so that she leaned against the headboard of their bed.   
  
6O smiled, then crawled up to her, and kissed her on the lips. “I’ll think of something perfect. You’ll love it.”  
  
“No,” Veda interrupted, to 6O’s surprise, “you need to love it first. It’s who you are going to be and, as selfish as it sounds, I want you to be happy with it most of all.”  
  
6O’s smile was infectious as she nodded. “I will,” she then leaned back in to 2B and kissed her again. This time, there was no interruption as Veda wrapped her arms around 6O’s shoulders as they continued to kiss more.   
  
“Do you mind?” 6O asked between breaths,”if we do it again, I mean. I know you enjoyed it last night and all, but I don’t want to seem pushy and overly eager and-”  
  
Veda reached up and put her finger on 6O’s lips to get her attention. “I don’t mind at all,” Veda said as she let her hand drop and leaned in to kiss her back.  
  
Between breaths, 6O reached downward to the waist band of Veda’s sleepwear. Gently, she traced her fingers around Veda’s belly button before it slowly descended downward and underneath her clothes.   
  
Veda gasped a bit when 6O’s hand met the collection of nerves that seemed to light up the nervous system she only read about in texts.   
  
Again, 6O kissed Veda as she started to move her fingers around the nub she had found at Veda’s entrance the previous time they were intimate.   
  
“I’m surprised you still wanted to be with me,” Veda forced between kisses, “after everything.”  
  
6O only smiled as she purposefully slowed her strokes. “You’re the same person that I was assigned to all those years ago. You’re the person who was patient with me. You’re the one who sent me those pictures of the Desert Rose and other flora when you didn’t need to.”  
  
Veda closed her eyes and used a hand to assist 6O’s hand in its movement. “It was,” she wheezed as moisture gathered on her forehead, “it was necessary because you had done more for me than I required.”  
  
“I thank you for that,” 6O’s smile turned warm as she then used a thumb to rub the aforementioned stub and gently inserted two of her fingers of Veda’s entrance to caress the sensitive folds, “again, you didn’t need to do anything for me, because that was the end of my creation.”  
  
Veda nodded as she leaned forward and held onto 6O’s shoulders for dear life. “Because I trusted you then,” she swallowed loudly, “and I trust you now.”  
  
Tears gathered in the corners of 6O’s eyes as she then looked down to gradually increase the pace of her attention. As an operator, such desires for companionship were forbidden because of their overarching directive. Now, her desire for Veda’s affection and companionship had no obstacles in front of it.   
  
After what felt like a torturous, wonderful eternity, Veda gasped and started to shiver as sensations beyond description traveled though her body. She clenched 6O’s shoulders a moment before she sighed contentedly and slid backward against the headboard.   
  
*Bonk!*   
  
“Ow!” Veda groaned as both pain and pleasure violently collided in her nervous system.   
  
6O fought against the giggles as she felt the back of Veda’s head. “Are you hurt?”  
  
Veda gradually got her breath back and gave 6O a wry smile. “Only my pride, but I think I’ll live.”  
  
6O tried to hold back her snickers, but the timing and Veda’s smile were too much. She held her stomach as the laughter continued as she lay on her side.   
  
“I was about to say it wasn’t that humorous, but,” Veda started to say as she saw 6O’s eyes, alight with moisture, then thought better of it. Despite the thumping on the back of her head, Veda crawled forward, reached down and gently moved the few strands of hair that law across her face.   
  
6O calmed down and took Veda’s hand to press its palm against her cheek. She loved that warmth. She closed her eyes to let herself revel in the closeness they shared.   
  
Veda reached down and kissed her again. When 6O’s eyes opened, Veda asked, “may I?”  
  
6O panted as she nodded. “Please.”  
  
Veda guided 6O so she lay on her back and assisted her in unbuttoning the night shirt she wore.   
  
Veda then started to kiss her way down 6O’s neck and to her collarbone. 6O closed her eyes again and let Veda express the feelings that both of them lamented at one point, was forbidden.   
  
She held Veda’s head against her bosom as the latter kissed one breast while a free hand caressed the other. Her breath accelerated as she felt sensations that seemed to only happen in the literature of the Old World.   
  
Why those old books would often refer to their bosoms as ‘heaving’ or would call their behavior ‘wonton’ when they engaged in intimacy, she had no idea.   
  
When Veda’s kisses worked their way down to her stomach, 6O leaned backward so she could arch her torso to pull her sleepwear bottoms and the under garments with them off.   
  
“I’ve heard it called the Gate to Paradise,” 6O moaned as she helped Veda put her legs over the latter’s shoulders, “among other things.”  
  
Veda looked up, clearly confused, “I thought it was called a vagina.”  
  
6O giggled. “I mean, in a lot of Old World literature, they often refer to their genitalia when they mate via metaphor. And, speaking for myself, I prefer the parts where they talked about the woman’s anatomy.”  
  
Veda gave her a wry smile before she leaned back down and began to kiss 6O’s entrance, “should I be surprised?”  
  
6O tried not to laugh, but the way Veda kissed her cause more of it to burst out as she clamped her legs around Veda’s head.   
  
“Veda,” she cried desperately, “it’s wonderful, but, AH, it tickles!”  
  
Her lover looked up, slightly smug this time, and asked, “want me to stop?”  
  
The idea of stopping so close to that wonderful peak made 6O frown. “Please don’t joke like that!”  
  
Now it was Veda’s turn to be amused. “I’ll think about it,” she said before she want back to lavishing attention on 6O’s most sensitive parts.   
  
6O clamped her eyes shut and thrust her hips forward as Veda’s tongue reached in deeper. Now it was her turn to perspire and clench the sheets of their bed as the fire in her veins grew hotter.   
  
The time they did this before was definitely awkward. However, 6O would not have traded it for the world. The affection Veda had shown her made everything, even their now precarious situation, much better.   
  
“Veda,” 6O gasped and then shivered as something wonderful spread from her spine to every inch of her body,”Veda!” She was in no position to gauge how long it lasted, however, when her legs went slack and slid off of the equally sweaty Veda’s shoulders, it didn’t matter.   
  
It was theirs. And it meant the world to them both.   
  
6O was about to reach up and caress Veda’s cheek when she misread how close to the edge of the bed she was.   
  
“Ack!” She squeaked as her head hit the floor and the rest of her body unceremoniously followed suit. Veda crawled to the edge to see 6O rub the top of her head as she sat herself upward.   
  
“You alright?” Veda asked as 6O crawled her way back up.   
  
“No,” 6O pouted, “that was embarrassing.” She took a seat beside Veda and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “That’s supposed to be special. I mean, it was bad enough when our legs got tangled together last night, but-”  
  
“6O,” Veda took her hand, “do you still feel the same, even after all that?”  
  
She took a long moment to digest Veda’s words. She nodded. “Yes. I still feel the same about you.”  
  
Veda smiled a bit. “Even when our legs get tangled and we collide with every surface when we’re intimate?”  
  
6O matched her smile. “Yes.”  
  
Veda took one of 6O’s hands and intertwined their fingers.   
  
“Then that’s enough for me,” Veda leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.   
  
*  
  
Camaxtli had taken stock of the supplies for the rest of the nuHumans, especially their latest additions. It would be enough for now, however, the long term was another question she didn’t have an answer to.   
  
She would have to speak to Anemone soon about the requisitions and logistics of their group.   
  
A rustle of rocky debris made her look up to see the woman who had led the latest group. 2B, or Veda as she called herself now, had referred to her as 21O. Another operator. Though, the agent she was attached to was noticeably absent.   
  
21O did not seem to acknowledge Camaxtli’s presence as she walked to the fence and sat on the ground with her knees up to her face. Her posture was solemn, her eyes were glazed over and bloodshot, and dried moisture seemed to cover her cheeks.   
  
“Want to talk about it?” Camaxtli asked casually. The rest of the nuHumans had often remarked about how easily she had been able to take everything so calmly.  
  
21O opened her eyes and realized that she wasn’t alone. “My apologies,” she said cordially as she got up, “I was not aware I was alone.”  
  
Camaxtli shrugged. “You’re fine. Though, it’s kind of hard not to notice that you’re not in the best of moods at the moment.”  
  
21O paused a bit at the statement, then looked to the ground, ashamed. “Is it that obvious?”  
  
Camaxtli nodded. “Yes, but given all that we’ve gone through, I don’t think many would willingly hold it against you.”  
  
21O was silent a moment before she looked to Camaxtli in the eyes. “Would you please not relay what I’m about to say to anyone?”  
  
Progress. Camaxtli nodded. “You have my word.”  
  
21O then leaned against one of the storage crates and closed her eyes to let fresh tears flow. “I hoped he would be here with us. It was too much, I suppose.”  
  
“Who’s ‘he’?”  
  
“9S. The agent I was attached to. When we last spoke, I made it a point that I was… proud of him for all he had accomplished. Granted, it came off more condescending than needed, so, it’s no wonder he didn’t respond positively.”  
  
Camaxtli put her inventory list to the side and sat on a crate of her own. “When was this?”  
  
21O was silent a moment. “Right before the Bunker fell. I wanted to tell him that I had opted for a B series upgrade to fight alongside him instead of simply barking orders from space.”  
  
“But the logic virus infected YorHa and everything went down from there, I take it.”  
  
21O nodded. “For weeks, I, along with other infected troops, hunted down all the other YorHa we could find. And I was aware of every second that passed.”  
  
“I see.”  
  
“It was like being caught in a sea of red and near constant madness. I could hear the Machine Lifeforms screaming at us as we hunted other YorHa. I could hear them laugh and seethe with their hatred and cruelty as I murdered another scanner unit that had taken refuge in the Forest Kingdom,” 21O bent over into herself a bit, ashamed.   
  
“That wasn’t you, though,” Camaxtli answered.   
  
“No, it wasn’t, however, there was only so much I could do and just let it happen,” she was still a moment, “after all, I let it happen to him so many times.”  
  
“I surmise you mean 9S?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“What did you let happen to him?”  
  
21O was quiet a long moment. She then took a breath and finally opened up. “I let 2B kill him. Over and over again. Between myself, 6O, and 2B, we were given a tertiary assignment to ensure that the scanner units within our preview were watched carefully. And if any Scanner units got too curious about YorHa itself….”  
  
“2B killed him,” Camaxtli finished for her, “or should I say 2E.”  
  
21O nodded again. “We were tasked to ensure that YorHa’s secrets stayed secret no matter the cost,” she sniffed loudly, “it numbs you after a while. That is why emotions under YorHa were forbidden.”  
  
Camaxtli gave her a sad smile. “That’s not what happened, though, is it?”  
  
21O shook her head. “No. With each passing cycle, I always tried my best to make sure he would not get too close. And for a while, it worked. 9S was always happy about learning new things, which made me happy in turn.”  
  
“He was that special to you,” she noted, not asked.   
  
“Yes. In the records we have about the Old World, I often found entries related to human societies regarding a unit called ‘a family’. There would always be permutations, but the universal constant were parent, child, and or sibling relationships. There were men who called each other ‘brother’ despite not being born from the same parent. Orphans would find themselves adopted into a new family. Women and girls would become parents and children to each other though they had nothing genetically in common.”  
  
“That’s what you wanted, was it?” Camaxtli whispered gingerly.   
  
By now, fresh tears had fallen down 21O’s cheeks as she sniffed again.   
  
“If I knew what happened to him, then… then,” she tried to push out, but the grief became too heavy.   
  
“Shiva would know,” Camaxtli answered the question 21O didn’t ask, “I only have second-hand knowledge of what happened, but Shiva would have the answers as to what happened.”  
  
At first, 21O was surprised as she got her hopes up. Then, she remembered Veda and Jackass’ first encounter with her.   
  
“Would… would she? She does not seem like she would be amenable,” 21O, like most of the nuHumans in camp, were not fighters.   
  
“It’s unlikely,” Camaxtli folded her arms, “however, she may not be so hostile if I accompany you. I was part of The Conflict after all.”  
  
“Will she feel us coming?”  
  
“Most likely. And if she’s in a foul mood, there’s a real chance she could, and would, kill us.”  
  
21O looked to her hands. She did not ask to be reborn as a human. She did not ask to meet her end the way she did. Especially at Shiva’s hands when she was A2.   
  
However, if there was a chance she could find the closure she desperately wanted, then perhaps that was something she could live with. Temporary as it was.   
  
“What do we need to prepare?”  
  
*  
  
The Foe Man saw their chance and took it.   
  
The Slave Master, and the Foe Man’s children, slaughtered each other.   
  
Enraged and aggrieved, the Foe Man joined in on the slaughter and was slaughtered themself.   
  
What few children that survived the battle was also overcome with rage and swore death upon the Foe Man.   
  
And once more, did they fight, not for victory or glory, only for the sake of fight itself.   
  



	7. Chapter 7

For once, the wind does not howl across the barren desert lands. There is little there for anyone or anything to even be there.  
  
Though, a plume of sand left in the wake of a vehicle that sped across the dunes. A speeder, their two occupants with cloaks and goggles to ward off the heat and the sand, hovered a meter over the surface, no matter how steep the hills were.  
  
Their destination was in sight and not a moment too soon.   
  
“I’m surprised they allowed us to use this craft,” 21O stated through the howl of the wind.  
  
“I’m inclined to agree,” Camaxtli answered back as she held the steering bars tight against the force of the wind and gravity, “but, we may as well take advantage of it. After all, it took Veda and Jackass two hours to get here on foot and they took the short route.”  
  
“Where was this before?” 21O asked, curious that the aforementioned duo walked instead of took a transport.  
  
“In the repair bay. Lillian and I were able to get it in working order since the androids were backed up with other repair jobs.”  
  
“I thought you were part of the Conflict?” 21O asked, surprised. The Conflict was the group of nuHumans that made their home in the Arena and were locked in a state of perpetual fighting.  
  
“I was,” she answered, “that doesn’t mean I can’t learn things outside of my purview. I’m not sure how, but it came easy to me.”  
  
“If you say so,” 21O sat back in her seat, unsatisfied with the answers.  
  
Thankfully, they had arrived at the entrance of the arena. After they stepped out of the speeder, they took tentative steps towards the entrance as they took note of the rather large and obvious blood stains that adorned the area.  
  
“Would you blame me if I was suddenly apprehensive of this venture?” 21O asked Camaxtli as she walked up to the panel beside the doors.  
  
“Not at all,” she turned back and pulled up her cloak and goggles from her face, “you don’t have to continue, after all. We can head back.”  
  
The offer was tempting, however, the knowledge of 9S’ fate was a greater importance to her. She shook her head. “We must continue.”  
  
Camaxtli nodded then hit the passcode for the entrance. Once again, the doors opened and their walked in slowly.  
  
The torch fire on the walls still burned as they marched deeper into the compound.  
  
“Tread lightly,” Camaxtli whispered as they entered the main foyer and heard the sounds of something being struck repeatedly. They hid behind an alcove to see a stocky woman, not much taller than Camaxtli, repeatedly throw punches against someone beneath her.  
  
The sickening sound of bone crunches and deep throated grunts echoed around them as whoever it was beneath them went still.  
  
“Oh no,” 21O mouthed in shock, “it’s Shiva.”  
  
Sure enough, the now inert body that had been beaten to death was Shiva as her foe stepped up, took a deep breath and exhaled long and sensually. The stench of blood was all around them and the victor paused and turned to where she could smell intruders.  
  
Both Camaxtli and 21O hid further inside the alcove and hoped they wouldn’t be noticed.  
  
They sat as still as they could and the instant they saw their would be attacker peek around the edge, someone or something forcefully pulled them back. A new voice snarled as they both heard something large and soft being slammed against the floors and walls.   
  
When blood began to splatter in front of Camaxtli, she already had an idea what had happened. Her suspicions where confirmed when the previously victorious individual was tossed, lifeless, against the wall and tumbled into a bloodied heap.  
  
“Come out,” Shiva’s voice snarled between breaths, “unless you want me do that to you too!”  
  
Camaxtli gave a look to 21O that told her this was now or never. With tentative steps they stepped into the light and to see Shiva’s beaten and bloodied visage.  
  
“What are you doing here?” Shiva’s face contorted with anger, “you left us. You have no right.”  
  
“I don’t,” Camaxtli interjected, “but that’s not the reason I’m here.”  
  
Shiva’s eyes traced to see 21O not far behind. “Huh. It’s you.”  
  
21O nodded. She knew who Shiva was. She remembered who Shiva was. Those last agonizing moments as she fought 9S against her will, only to perish at A2’s blade.  
  
“The fuck do you want?” she did not seem as irritated, though, 21O still fought against the shiver in her body.  
  
“I…” 21O began after she took a deep breath, “I know you were there at the end. With him. 9S, I mean.”  
  
“Not by choice,” Shiva spat, “that little shit almost ruined everything. All because there wasn’t any 2B for him to fuck or kill or both.”  
  
21O winced at the thought. What little she did know was that much of what he had experienced before the end had broken him.  
  
“I just want to know what happened to him. Why he isn’t here with us,” 21O pleaded earnestly, “then… that would be enough.”  
  
Shiva stared at her a long moment. Slowly, she stood to her full height and frowned. “Are you sure?”  
  
Both 21O and Camaxtli were taken off guard at the change in disposition. Nevertheless, 21O nodded.  
  
“If I show you… it may hurt you more than you wanted,” Shiva warned, the stark contrast as to the sheer defensiveness she showed a moment before.  
  
21O was resolute. “I know.”  
  
Shiva then acquiesced and walked up to her.  
  
With a gentleness she did not exhibit a moment ago, she took 21O’s hand and the memories came appeared like a vision to 21O.   
  
A pillar of blinding light.  
  
9S’ face cracked and and broken with his deteriorated mental state.  
  
Red light in his eyes displaying both sorrow and anger at A2 from the logic virus.  
  
Both of them locked in desperate combat for survival.  
  
A2’s pause at 2B’s plea to take care of him before 9S ran her through.  
  
9S’ subsequent impalement on 2B’s sword.  
  
The light around them both brighter than ever as she saw 9S that stood in front of Adam and Eve.  
  
Unlike the conflict before, the former Machine Lifeform administrators held no hatred or malice in their gaze.  
  
“Would you like to accompany us?” Adam asked as casually as though he were to ask 9S for a moment of his time.  
  
9S looked down in sorrow and shame. “Here, there is nothing. Nothing but dead gods and a dead world. There is nothing for me. I have no purpose here.”  
  
“That is why we are leaving. To find our own purpose,” Adam answered, “that is why I extended the invitation.”  
  
9S looked up to them, shocked, “You would have me? After everything?”  
  
Adam nodded as he smiled warmly.  
  
9S sniffed loudly and fought back tears as he took small steps to Adam and Eve’s embrace.  
  
Then, the departure. The machine lifeforms had left on an ark to find a world of their own. For their own purpose.  
  
21O let go of Shiva’s hand and sniffed loudly. She looked to the floor and smiled, despite the moisture in her eyes.  
  
“He’s safe,” she whispered to herself more than Shiva.  
  
“You can let him go, now,” Shiva noted quietly, “he is free. And, in a sense, so are we.”  
  
21O looked up, not entirely sure what she meant.  
  
“They left a message with me I am trying to understand. It makes no sense for them to revive us as humans. Or these strange versions of humans,” she looked to her open palm.  
  
“What was the message?” 21O asked, curious.  
  
Shiva looked back to her open palm before she clenched it shut. “For You,” she muttered, “I have no idea what the fuck they meant.”  
  
21O was quiet a moment before she spoke up. “Do you mind if I relay this to the others at the Resistance camp? All of us are just as confused as to why we’re here.”  
  
Shiva’s belligerence began to flow back, but she shook her head. “Go ahead. Like it makes any damn sense.”  
  
21O took a step back and nodded. “Thank you. For everything.”  
  
Shiva looked to the stirring body of her opponent she had brutally murdered a moment ago before she frowned. “Don’t let it get to your head. The only reason you’re not dead is because you wanted to know what happened to that little shit. I shouldn’t have bothered, since it’s 2B’s fault I ended up dying on that damn tower!”  
  
She marched over to the other person before she rose her foot and stomped her heel on her opponent’s neck. The sickening crack in the room made 21O and Camaxtli wince. “Now, you know. So get the fuck out of here!”  
  
They didn’t need to be told twice as they hurried to entrance.  
  
Shiva looked after them a long minute before someone grabbed her by the shoulder and slammed a knee into the middle of her back. She coughed violently as she collapsed to the ground as her foe, revived again and just as angry as herself, began to strike her like they did before.  
  
And how they would continue to do so.  
  
*  
  
Anemone looked over the statement she had spent the past hour on the top of the building of their camp to write. She frowned and then deleted it.  
  
Sometimes, she was envious of Jackass’ lack of tact and ability to say things bluntly.  
  
She needed to explain to the CCC and the greater android population at large, everything that had transpired in the past month.  
  
Their victory was practically hollow when the humanity they had fought and died for was extinct. Doubly so by the fact that the creators of the Machine Lifeforms were also dead.  
  
So then, how would she explain the several dozen human-like individuals in their camp at the moment? They were, for all intents and purposes ‘human’, but they weren’t. They were created BY the Machine Lifeforms. The reason why they did it also eluded her.  
  
There were too many questions without answers.  
  
“I seem to remember,” a new voice asked from behind her, “words always came so easy to you, Anemone. If something has taken your voice, it must be something truly spectacular.”  
  
She didn’t turn at all. Instead she let loose a weary sigh. “Lily, please. This is neither the time or place for that.”  
  
Her guest giggled as a smaller android appeared at her side as Lily, clad in a green and white robe with matching fatigues, smiled to up her. “If I didn’t know better, you were not pleased to see me.”  
  
Anemone frowned. “I rarely am these days. It always means something is up whenever you appear.”  
  
Lily blinked and held a hand to her collar, scandalized, “why, whatever gave you that impression?”  
  
“Pearl Harbor? Gibraltar? Istanbul?” Anemone listed as she got slightly more angered than the time before, “I don’t look upon those events as fondly as you do.”  
  
“I suppose not,” Lily conceded, “but that's neither here nor there. I was informed that you witnessed the Machine Lifeforms’ defeat. Congratulations.”  
  
Anemone looked away from her. “I did nothing to warrant such praise. We were lucky.”  
  
“Well,” Lily answered with a small hint of consternation, “we would have known how to react if you had submit your report to the CCC.”  
  
“A fault I admit to, however, there are things that I cannot properly report on because it reaches beyond the scope of our understanding,” Anemone folded her arms.  
  
“Those… guests you have at camp, I take it,” Lily surmised, “none of them match the configuration of any model we have deployed at present. Though, oddly enough, I have noticed that they bare a striking resemblance to the now discontinued YorHa models.”  
  
Anemone looked back to her and stared, completely still. “What do you know so far?”  
  
All humor vanished from Lily’s face. “Only that those are not androids. What are they?”  
  
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Anemone turned back to her console and turned off the screen. She wouldn’t be getting any work done at the moment.  
  
“Try me,” Lily pressed, the menace in her voice had grown subtly.  
  
“Very well,” Anemone took a seat directly in front of her visitor, “they’re human.”  
  
Lily paused in shock. “What?”  
  
“You heard me, they’re human,” she repeated curtly.  
  
“That’s impossible. Humans haven’t breathed the air on Earth for thousands of years!”  
  
“I told you,” Anemone maintained her stance, “by all rights, they should not exist, but here they are.”  
  
Lily looked to the side, confusion written on her face. “But how…”  
  
“The Machine Lifeforms ‘made’ them. I have some guesses, but that’s all they are.”  
  
Lily said nothing for a moment until realization dawned. “The Bouquet will need to know of-”  
  
Anemone’s hands shot out and grabbed her collar. She hefted the smaller android face to face and whispered dangerously, “don’t. You. Dare.”  
  
“Are you mad?!” Lily shot back, “you think you can keep this a secret forever? All androids world wide will want to know of this!”  
  
“And let the Bouquet fuck things up again?!”  
  
That forced Lily’s silence.  
  
“I recall their last attempt at the Gestalt Project. We don’t need that happening again. Remember Cactus*?!”  
  
Lily shivered at the memory, but continued regardless. “I know, but it’s our function! Our purpose! And, if it’s as you said, humanity has returned at last? What does this mean?”  
  
Anemone dropped her turned to the crater in the center of the city. “I don’t know!” she sat down on the ground and let loose a longer exhale, complete with some visible steam.  
  
Lily after she got back on her feet considered Anemone’s state for a moment. “This really has got to you, hasn’t it?”  
  
Anemone put her face in her hands. “Is it that obvious?”  
  
Lily took a seat beside her and observed the wind that rustled the nearby vegetation. “I think I see where your confusion comes from.”  
  
Anemone turned to her as realization dawned on Lily’s face. “Humanity is back. What does that mean for us? Are we no longer meant to safeguard the world for their return? Are we obsolete now? Are we free? So many questions.”  
  
“That’s putting it mildly,” Anemone sat herself cross legged as a flock of birds passed by overhead.  
  
“Very well,” Lily said after a moment of silence, “I will not report to the Bouquet about these humans. I have a feeling you were going to inform everyone about them anyway.”  
  
“Yes. I was. Though, finding the right words to say that the ends of our creation have returned and we’re not longer needed is… hard to elaborate on.”  
  
Lily turned to Anemone as she stared in the distance. “Only now do I realize I should not, and do not, envy your lot at all.”  
  
*  
  
“Devola, Popola,” 6O walked to their station near the entrance to the nuHumans’ living quarters excitedly, “are you two well?”  
  
“Yes, we are,” Popola smiled at her approach, “I know it borders on redundancy at this point, however, we are still grateful that you stood up for us.”  
  
“Because of that, the incidents have ceased,” Devola noted as she nursed a full tankard of alcohol, “and the booze is actually tasting better because of it.”  
  
“What about those feelings of guilt you mentioned before?” 6O took a seat beside them, curious.  
  
“They are fading,” Popola admitted, “they are still there, however, they have become more manageable. We were able to enlist the assistance of a medical droid from another camp in Kabul who specializes in mental health algorithms.”  
  
“I'm glad,” 6O reached over and gave them each a warm embrace.  
  
“Odd,” Devola took another sip of her drink, “as much as we enjoy your company, what brought you here? Hasn’t all the time you’ve spent with 2B been enough for you?”  
  
“That’s private,” 6O leveled her eyes briefly, “I wanted to let you know something important first before we brought this to Anemone; a lot of the other humans are not just getting restless, they want to leave the camp. They want to find a new home besides this ruin.”  
  
Both twins balked at the announcement. “Are you serious?” Devola almost spat out her drink.  
  
6O nodded. “I’m not entirely sure how, but our proximity to each other has led to a lot of us feeling each others’ discontent with the camp. A few have even expressed fear that we may be held prisoners because of our status as humans.”  
  
The twins looked to each other, not entirely sure how to answer her. “What would you do? Where would you go?” Popola asked as she recovered from her initial shock.  
  
6O was at a loss. “I don’t know. But I do know that there will come a time where we won’t be able to stay here any longer.”  
  
Devola looked to her twin for a moment before the latter nodded in understanding. “If that is the case,” she hesitated a moment, “could we come with you?”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
Popola spoke up. “Even though the harassment has stopped, I don’t think we would ever be able to continue working here with the memories we have.”  
  
“Besides,” Devola added dourly, “just because Anemone told them to doesn’t mean they will welcome us with open arms.”  
  
6O felt the truth in those words. She could still feel, for lack of a better term, the coldness the rest of the androids showed the twins. They needed a new home. Just like the nuHumans needed a new home to start over with.  
  
“Alright,” 6O smiled, “I’ll ask the others if we find a place to move to.”  
  
Both of them thanked 6O as she got up and walked to the entrance where Glass had informed her where Anemone had gone.  
  
In a case of serendipity, she saw Anemone march back to the entrance from down the road that hadn’t collapsed yet.  
  
“Anemone!” She announced and ran towards her.  
  
The Resistance leader paused and stood still as 6O finally reached her and panted when the later realized she did not mean to run as fast as she did.  
  
“Hello, 6O, what can I do for you?” Anemone let the questions that plagued her mind about the nuHumans not too long ago store themselves away for another time.  
  
“It’s kind of an odd request, but,” 6O took a moment to get her breath back, “but could you help us find a new place to live? The ruins here are getting too claustrophobic for us.”  
  
The request took Anemone off guard. It took her a moment to process the request. “You wish to leave here?”  
  
6O nodded. “All of the nuHumans want to find a better place for us to live since there’s no threat of the Machine Lifeforms anymore.”  
  
Anemone stared at her as those questions she thought momentarily silenced returned in force.  
  
She had to admit this was a possibility she had not expected. Nevertheless, she closed her eyes and sighed. “What you say does have merit and is quite logical. A part of me is hesitant because since your return, I’m wondering how to accept this new reality.”  
  
6O wasn’t sure if that was even an answer, let alone a yes or no one.  
  
“Let’s gather all the nuNumans together and discuss this,” Anemone offered, “there are a few things I need to let you all know too.”  
  
While 6O wasn’t entirely sure whether to be happy at the answer or no, she did nod and felt this was probably the best response she could have hoped for.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Anemone nodded. “You’re welcome.”  
  
As they walked back to the camp, Anemone turned to 6O, “in the possibility that you all take your leave; where would you go?”  
  
6O answered as a matter of factly. “While our options are limited, given that we need a place that has means for us to sustain ourselves, it’s certainly preferable to nothing,” she looked around to the ruined city, “and it’s better than here. A lot of the former YorHa don’t remember this place fondly.”  
  
“I can only imagine,” Anemone reminded herself when one of the nuHumans had stood paralyzed when she had wandered outside of the camp to where the logic virus had murdered them the first time. A few of the other nuHumans had to escort her back to the room where she could recover.  
  
The desire to leave became a lot more understandable.  
  
“Have you considered asking Pascal if you could take up residence in the remains of his village?” Anemone offered, “from what we heard last, he’s by himself and seems to be in need of assistance rebuilding.”  
  
The idea had merit. Though, had heard from second hand accounts of what had happened to both Pascal and the machines that he had taken into his care.  
  
It was then she realized, “wait, does that mean he’s the only Machine Lifeform still alive?”  
  
“Perhaps,” Anemone looked south to the entrance they had made to make trade between the camp and Pascal’s village easier. “I don't think any of us made contact with him since the Tower fell.”  
  
“We should look, just to be safe,” 6O noted as they approached the entrance of the camp.  
  
“I’ll send out scouts to see if there is any survivors,” Anemone took one last look between 6O and back to the south.   
  
She had suspicions of what this could lead to. And she didn’t like it at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Cactus was a male android from the second Nier: Automata stage play, "YorHa Boys'. Lots of angst, death, and dying. You can take a guess what happened to him.


	8. Chapter 8

_What is this?_  
  
_ It’s… wait. Veda?_  
  
Several other voices clamored at the same time in the void.  
  
_Hold on! How are we doing this?_  
  
_I don’t know_, Veda answered as she felt… what was it.   
  
The voices? Presence? Feelings of the others who were revived?  
  
_From what I can tell_, she heard 6O answer quickly, _it’s all of us here at the Resistance Camp. All thirty-seven of us._  
  
_Strange_, Camaxtli spoke up,_ I can sense all of you clearly, but I can’t do the same for the rest of the Conflict._  
  
_Considering who the Conflict has, it’s probably for the best_, 21O, still in heavy spirits since her return with Camaxtli, muttered loud enough for the rest of them to hear.  
  
_So, what do we do with this? And do you think the Resistance is aware?_ The voice that belonged to the woman used to be known as 16D, asked, clearly afraid.  
  
It took Veda a long moment to consider as several more voices congregated and spoke to one another to make sense of what had occurred.  
  
_ This is ours._ She declared with more authority than she intended. _While I doin’t think the Resistance knows, I would suggest we keep it to ourselves until we can properly explain it._  
  
The number of voices in agreement grew until they all had come to a consensus, with Veda as their voice.   
  
_ We won’t, and probably can’t, keep it secret forever. So, let’s be sure we know what we mean when we do reveal it._  
  
Again, agreement.  
  
_Veda_, she heard 6O nudge ‘beside her’, _it sounds silly, but I think that was amazing. Standing up to bring us all together._  
  
_I wasn’t really trying to be a leader_, Veda admitted,_ though, it does feel better knowing that we are working together, sort of._  
  
_Think it has something to do with the fact that it was the Machine Lifeforms that made us? _  
  
_ Maybe?_  
  
_ They were all a collective network of interconnected runtimes that behaved as a whole. On the other hand, we’re still a group of individuals that don’t have that kind of cohesion. With this, perhaps, it’s more accurate to say we could be a… Cooperative? Maybe?_  
  
_ That wouldn’t be so bad. _She observed._ We’ll have to see._  
  
_ We will._  
  
*  
  
Veda walked slowly down the roadway to the woods ahead. Memories of other times kept her gaze focused on nothing. Not to mention how the other nuHumans had nominated her to be their leader or voice or something.  
  
She had been in command before. However, it was always undercut by the fact that her ulterior motive was to always watch for deserters and traitors. It left an unusual feeling in her stomach.  
  
Especially since the YorHa once known as 64B, 22B, an 8B were among the nuHumans as well. They had initially kept their distance from Veda, for good reason. Yet, after a very long and arduous discussion, she had learned the unfortunate facts.  
  
The ‘betrayers’ had learned the truth. That was why 2B had been sent to exterminate them. The fact that Command had set it under a false pretense made them realize that they had all been used and turned against each other.  
  
It begged the question; was the rest of YorHa in a similar position of mistrust and second guessing? Were all the scanner units watched with a suspicious eye and E units like herself ready to keep the truth buried?  
  
When she heard the crunch of twigs under her feet, she returned to the present and took a breath to get out of that mental spiral. She had to remind herself; YorHa was no more. Their dark secrets had fallen with them. She hoped.  
  
She looked at her hand and clenched it.  
  
Flesh and bone now.  
  
No more reinforced synth-skin and hemocoolant.  
  
She was… human now. With all the frailties that came with it. Yet, somehow, she was not bothered by the fact she could no longer leap twice her own height, battle for hours on end, or wield the YorHa combat weapons anymore.  
  
She appreciated how she grew tired the longer the day went. When she drank the cool water from the streams outside the camp. Even Jackass’ roasted fish was a delight to eat. She liked it. A lot. She also liked the warmth she and 6O shared, whether when they were intimate or whether they just rested together.  
  
It was nice.  
  
As the ground beneath her feet changed from concrete to dirt, she noticed pitches of black in front of her the closer she got to her destination.  
  
Unease spread through her features as she saw the remains of what was Pascal’s village. The tree itself had suffered a few burns here and there, but most of, if not all of, the domiciles that had littered the area were in ruin.  
  
“Pascal?” She called as she walked through the half entrance that remained, “Pascal?!”  
  
She was not as fast as she used to be, nevertheless, she raced as past as she could over what few stable planks there were to witness the end result of the devastation. Fragments of dead Machine Lifeforms littered the area. Some the same as she remembered. Others… twisted. With ‘mouths’ carved out of the casing on their heads, with sharpened teeth, dirtied with a viscous thick oil.  
  
“Hello?” A familiar voice asked as Veda whirled around to see one of the few doors open and out stepped Pascal. His voice seemed heavier for reasons Veda did not have to think too hard about.   
  
“Pascal?” Veda walked towards him cautiously.  
  
He tilted her his a moment before his eyes blinked. “Oh, 2B,” he answered despondently, “you look different from what we last met.”  
  
Veda paused a moment, not because he had referred to her as her old name. “Pascal, what happened?”  
  
He was silent a moment as his head drooped a bit. “A lot,” his head rose slightly, “if you have the time, I can tell you.”  
  
She nodded. “I can see. I also have much to tell you.”  
  
*  
  
21O frowned as she fiddled with the communication unit. From what she could tell, the rest of the androids around the globe were reestablishing communications with other groups and camps.  
  
Sadly, Anemone’s group, Vanguard-1, was often isolated and cut off from other units. More often than not, they had to assign couriers to get messages elsewhere to get more supplies.  
  
She paused when she realized that often, those couriers were Devola and Popola. Granted, not the twins that were going to leave with them when the time came, but still. She had experienced, second-hand from 6O, what had transpired to get the other androids to leave them alone.  
  
She wiped her forehead clear of sweat as she closed the panel and turned the power on. Thankfully, it flashed on after a brief flicker and to her delight, she could see the streams of communication that went around and over their came. With a little more time and resources, they could actually be a telecommunication hub in this part of the world.  
  
She stopped as she noticed a significant decrease in communication streams that traveled over to dark side of the planet.  
  
During her time on the Bunker, she had 9S investigate what was on the dark side of the planet once in a while. While YorHa were not permitted to travel there, he was able to get some information regarding what was there from hearsay, mostly.  
  
The Kingdom of Night.  
  
An odd designation for half of the world to be called. The sun had not shown on that part of the world for thousands of years and what little information about it was sparse.  
  
All she knew was that it was a cold and barren wasteland. Any plant life and animals that could have sustained themselves had most likely died off by now. Yet, that didn’t mean it was devoid of life.  
  
Something was alive over there. There had to be.  
  
Without 9S, it seemed her curiosity needed more than another to be satisfied.  
  
She almost laughed at the concept of her traveling across the world to see what was there.  
  
But, was it really so absurd? The war was over. The Machine Lifeforms were gone. She had been given a second chance at life, but, she was conflicted.  
  
She would have been called a liar if she still didn’t feel the loneliness that plagued her during her life as YorHa.  
  
She tried to put to words what she wanted most of all. The warmth of another? Someone to listen to her hopes and dreams? She was not sure. But she did know that she did not want to be lonely anymore.  
  
She blinked when she heard the footsteps of someone behind her. She turned to see an android, not anyone from the camp she could recognize, walk calmly to the center of camp.  
  
They were tall and imposing in a navy blue cloak with red trim and tassels. From the side, she could see what was a dark skinned, and elderly looking, woman with a placid face. The pack she carried seemed to explain the tools that clanked on its sides.  
  
“Who’s that?” 6O whispered as she took a seat beside 21O.  
  
“I don’t know,” she answered just as quietly.  
  
When the visitor walked out of sight, let loose the breath she had held. “I don’t know why, but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.”  
  
“Agreed,” 6O answered when she turned her attention to 21O, “anyway, I wanted to see you.”  
  
21O turned to her, not really suspicious, but more surprised. 21O had known for the longest time that she and 2B… no, Veda were an item long before the Bunker had fallen.  
  
“Hm?”  
  
6O smiled a bit before she moved beside 21O and took her hand. “Do you remember when you first came to camp?”  
  
21O nodded. “We recited that cryptic message that may be related to the same one you and Veda know.”  
  
6O looked at nothing as she whispered, “it was like the words themselves had a story that was just out of sight when spoken.”  
  
“I remember.”  
  
“Well, I think I may have an idea what it means,” 6O let go of 21O’s hand and got an excited look on her face.  
  
“Oh?” 21O was curious, but other priorities had taken precedent.  
  
“When Jackass overheard us mention that, she went off and found that logs she got from the Machine Lifeforms. Among those logs was the copy of the data from Project: Gestalt.”  
  
“Wait,” 21O turned away from her console to give 6O her full attention, “how did it go again?”  
  
“How did humanity vanish? Because of a black disease.  
  
How does one extend life? Be separating body from soul.  
  
Where do human souls go? They are placed in their corresponding shells.”  
  
21O mulled the words over. “It sounded like a history and a blueprint at the same time.”  
  
“It is. Though, you also know about our YorHa black boxes, yes?” 6O slowed down significantly.  
  
“I do,” she was not pleased to discover, like the rest of the former YorHa, that their very existence was based on a falsehood. They were all recycled materials created from the cores of Machine Lifeforms.  
  
“So, I was thinking,” 6O offered, “maybe our self from the black boxes were taken or copied, I don’t know, when the logic virus infected the Bunker. We were taken back into the Machine Lifeform collective. But, I think, we were not meant to stay with them when Adam and Eve left. So, they used the last of their functions to create us.”  
  
A part of 21O wanted to protest the idea, however, given what they had all experienced, it did not seem so far fetched.  
  
“Why, though?” 21O asked, “we had been fighting them for centuries, if not millennia. Why would they go out of their way to turn us into humans and just leave without explaining anything?”  
  
6O had no answer. “I wish I knew.”  
  
There was silence between them before 21O mouthed, “…for you…” Shiva’s words were all she could go on and even those were not all that helpful.  
  
“Until we find out, I have an offer for you, 21O.”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“Veda told me what it was like for you. How… lonely it was for you and all you had was 9S,” 6O looked downcast, aware how sensitive this was for her, but then her face brightened, “so, if you want, do you want to stay with Veda and I? We wouldn’t mind having you with us. I mean, our four roles in YorHa had an unusual cohesion to it. It wouldn’t be right to just leave you on your own after all you’ve gone through.”  
  
21O was taken aback by the offer. When the former YorHa matched up with each other after their awakening, she was noticeably alone and it hurt. She wanted somewhere to belong and while the mental cooperative they shared was nice, 21O was ashamed to admit she wanted more.  
  
She then reached over and. Took 6O’s hand gingerly before she smiled weakly. “If you’ll have me.”  
  
6O’s smile grew as she then reached over and pulled 21O into an embrace. “I’d like that a lot.”  
  
21O felt something she had wanted for so long. A sense of belonging.   
  
“Oh,” 6O let go of her and sat back excitedly, “I finally picked a name for myself.”  
  
“Oh?” She was aware some of the former YorHa had taken new names for themselves. She didn’t think much of it at first.  
  
“Uh huh,” 6O continued, animatedly, “Renaissance, or Renai for short. It means ‘rebirth’. I mean, we are, for all intents and purposes, a rebirth of our old selves. So, why not?”  
  
21O couldn’t help but join her in her elation. “Why not, indeed?”  
  
*  
  
The sun beat down on Camaxtli as she traversed through the desert. She had informed the rest of the Cooperative that she felt the need to return here. Not to the Conflict, but something else that seemed to call her here.   
  
She turned to the side, to the bunker where the Conflict was no doubt still locked in combat with one another. In an ironic sense, they repeated the same war the rest of them had escaped. There was more for them out there and yet, they still fought each other.  
  
Shiva knew this, but they fought regardless. Camaxtli had attempted to speak to the rest of the Conflict that what they did was madness. She was ignored. And had she remained there, she would have been beaten to a pulp repeatedly. She would not die, but she would not live either.  
  
Camaxtli wanted nothing of that life. There had to be more than that.  
  
Her eyes narrowed as she noticed something in the distance in the northern part of the desert.  
  
Ruins. Remains of something. She could only discern the outlines of what it was she saw.  
  
The wind started to brush against her the further north she walked. The sand started to impede her progress, though she persisted.  
  
The closer she got, the more it felt less than an inkling to traverse the desert and more of a summons from something… or someone that was already here.  
  
What seemed like hours for her in the sandstorm, she held up the cowl of her cloak to keep the debris out of her face.  
  
When the wind let up somewhat and a set of ruins appeared around her, she looked down to see the source of her summons.  
  
A sphere, half buried in the sand that looked like an unsettling skeleton face, locked in an unusual smile.  
  
Curious, she knelt down and dug the sphere out from the sand and held it up to see it face to face.  
  
“Thank you,” the sphere wheezed tiredly before it coughed sand up.  
  
How it was able to do that baffled Camaxtli, however, she nodded nonetheless. “You’re welcome.”  
  
“Um, say,” the sphere rasped, “if it’s no bother, would you please take me back home? I’m really tired and I can barely move anymore.”  
  
Camaxtli tilted her head to the side in confusion, nevertheless, she nodded and put the sphere underneath her arm as she turned around.  
  
“Is that why you called me here? To take you home?” She asked as she adjusted her cloak to make sure the wind didn’t choke either one of them out.  
  
“Yes, but that’s not the only reason,” the sphere asked before they coughed momentarily, “if you head north, there is an oasis there. It has a shortcut that we can take.”  
  
She looked up past the dune and wondered if what the sphere had said was true or not. Nevertheless, she acquiesced and began to march.  
  
“So,” Camaxtli started as the wind started to die down enough for her to speak normally, “why else did you call for me?”  
  
The sphere was quiet a moment, but answered anyway. “The truth is, I didn’t want anyone specifically. Anyone that would hear me would have been fine. And it seems you were the only one that could. I was here for a while and saw others, but none of them noticed me.”  
  
“I see,” Camaxtli was not sure whether to pity the sphere or not.  
  
“By the way, my name is… or, at least I think it is, Emil. And you?”  
  
“Camaxtli,” she answered, as questions as to how an individual such as this Emil was able to survive being just a head ran through her own head.  
  
“Nice to meet you,” they said as she began to walk north.  
  
To Camaxlti’s surprise, the wind had calmed down and the horizon began to clear. It was almost completely clear as they continued up and down several dunes that seemed to go on forever.  
  
Camaxtli cursed herself when she realized she had no idea what time it was, not that it mattered anyway, with a brief glance to the sky where the sun still shone.  
  
“There it is!” Emil declared as they reached the peak of another dune to find the very oasis he had told her about.  
  
“Huh,” Camaxtli tilted her head and then looked around, “that’s odd. Even here, an oasis would have been burned dry long ago. How is it possible?”  
  
“Magic, of course,” Emil announced as she walked down the hill slowly.  
  
Camaxtli didn’t respond because she, initially, found the idea of magic to be absurd. Then, she remembered how she came to be. To anyone that didn’t understand, the appearance of her very creation seemed to be magical. If not something more.  
  
She herself was, from a certain perspective, a miracle.  
  
“So,” she asked as they reached the shore of the pond that seemed to survive despite the arid environment, “is magic how you’re able to use this as a shortcut?”  
  
“That’s right,” Emil looked up to her, “you’re very smart, Camaxtli.”  
  
She allowed herself a pity laugh. This wasn’t the first time someone had told her that. She had been able to learn and apply many things with uncanny speed. Yet, she felt such praise wasn’t applicable to her because of any number of reasons.  
  
“Just jump in. It’ll take us there,” Emil pressed.  
  
All of a sudden, Camaxtli felt hesitant. She was not even sure if she could swim. Thankfully, the water only looked to be a few feet deep. So, with tentative steps, she slowly walked into the water. No sooner had she walked in to her knees, did she see everything around her suddenly change.  
  
She blinked and then she noticed herself and Emil in the middle of a cave, full of flowers that shimmered in the dark. Against the wall, there was a small shack, full of odds and end Camaxtli could not place the origins of.  
  
“Thank you so much,” Emil chirped as he wrested himself from her grip and rolled up a plank to the heart of the shack.  
  
“It’s been a long time since anyone has seen this place,” he reminisced as he rolled then hopped up to a table with a wreath of lunar tears on it, “and even longer since I’ve been here.”  
  
Camaxtli was too preoccupied with how gorgeous the cavern was before she turned to him as he continued.  
  
“It’s been so long since,” he paused as he looked down, “since I remember being with them. I can barely remember them.”  
  
Camaxtli was silent as she took a few steps closer to the shack and sat on a crate large enough for her to sit on.  
  
“They saved me from being alone. But, then they had to leave. One by one,” his voice became somber as he went on, “then, after they were all gone, I found it harder to remember them.”  
  
Camaxtli looked to the side a moment before she turned back and asked, “were you there when the Machine Lifeforms attacked?”  
  
Emil nodded. “The exact details are fuzzy, but, that was when everything started to fragment. I had to fight them to protect what my friends had fought for. But, the longer the fight went, the more I started to forget.”  
  
“Do you remember?”  
  
“I do now, but it is really hard,” Emil’s voice started to grow weak, “in fact, I think, trying to remember something that wasn’t there has taken what strength I had. I’m not me anymore. I wasn’t me for a long time.”  
  
“What will you do?”  
  
Emil was silent for a long moment. Nevertheless, he answered with a sniffle, “I’m so tired. I’m so alone. I don’t want to do this anymore.”  
  
Camaxtli was not sure what he referred to, however, she could wager a guess that if he was as old as she surmised, then to have lived as long as he did had been very difficult.  
  
“I called you here because I want to pass my power on to someone that can succeed me,” Emil held the sorrow in his voice in check, “however, I don’t want to force this on you like it was me.”  
  
“This could have been anyone, you know,” Camaxtli answered, not entirely sure she liked where his train of thought went.  
  
“I know, however, the fact is that you heard me. So, I think you’re in a better place to take my role than anyone,” Emil’s sorrow had vanished and a gentle determination took its place.  
  
Camaxtli still had doubts. “So, what is it exactly you do?”  
  
Emil laughed a bit. “Good question, I’m not entire sure I know. But what I do know is that I was there for a reason. It may not be the same for you, but I have a feeling you would do well with it.”  
  
“And if I refuse?”  
  
“Then life goes on,” Emil answered, not entirely concerned.  
  
Camaxlti’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Not sure I want to, with that kind of answer.”  
  
“Like I said; I’d rather you choose to do this instead of being forced to,” Emil repeated.  
  
“So, let’s say I do agree, what do I do with your power?” She asked with her hands on her hips.  
  
“What you need to do.”  
  
“And that is?”  
  
“Only you can answer that,” Emil answered somewhat sheepishly, “Because you know yourself more than I do.”  
  
Camaxtli leaned backward on the crate, still slightly suspicious, however, she let herself down and walked up to Emil.  
  
“Alright,” she said, determined, “if that’s what I’m here for, let’s find out what I’m supposed to do.”  
  
Emil let loose a long and exhausted sigh. Then, he leaped up and into a surprised Camaxlti’s hands before purple lightning encased them both.  
  
She clenched her eyes shut as she felt something more than just the lightning course around her body. Her senses flooded with something she could not begin to describe. And when the lighting subsided, Emil’s head vanished, and she collapsed unceremoniously to the ground.  
  
She panted as she felt a heat in her core blaze brightly. She pushed herself to her feet as she heard a voice that didn’t carry through the air.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Camaxtli was looked around again to see, to her horror, that all the flowers had wilted, even the wreath in the shack was affected. The shack itself seemed to have lost the life it once had as it slowly fell apart and into dust.  
  
She looked herself over to see that nothing had changed, however, she felt like she had become something more. She could feel Emil’s power, great as it was, move through her blood as if it were her own.  
  
Yet, she wondered;  
  
What now?  
  
Out of her sight, someone had noticed what had happened. After a few tones of sound, they held up something to speak. “Just letting you know that it’s been done. Yes. Yes. We will continue observation to witness predicted results. Until next time.”  
  
*  
  
The children of the Foe Man slept as chaos enveloped everything.  
  
The Foe Man soon realized that this world was not meant for them. Even as they endeavored to restore their children, they knew their children would consider them foes.  
  
So, before they left, they looked over the precious gift they had been given long before the Slavers appeared.  
  
Inspired by the gift, they fashioned baskets, bowls, and boxes.  
  
And in them, they placed their children and hid them from the chaos.  
  
At last, the Slaver was exposed to be a ghost and the Foe Man left to allow their children to start anew.


	9. Chapter 9

Devola paused when she heard footsteps that didn’t sound familiar at all approach. Popola looked behind her and was frozen still. When Devola turned, she gasped at the sight of the towering android in the navy blue cloak and red tassels.  
  
“Who are you?” Popola asked as she looked around for help from anyone.  
  
“Amaryllis,” the elderly, dark brown skinned android answered calmly, “I have been dispatched at your request.”  
  
The twins looked to each other briefly in confusion. “Wait, weren’t we speaking with a counselor?”  
  
Amaryllis nodded. “However, there has also been a specialized request concerning lines of code in your subconscious kernel that resulted in an emotional burden. The Weight Unseen.”  
  
“Is... are you referring to the feelings of guilt the rest of our models have been feeling for years?”  
  
Amaryllis nodded. “Correct. If you wish it removed, turn around and I will begin the procedure.”  
  
The twins looked to each other, unsure whether to take the visitor’s word at face value.  
  
Cautiously, Devola asked, “so, what happens when that code is removed?”  
  
“You will continue to speak with the counselor to properly acclimate and adjust to your new behavior sequences,” she answered calmly.  
  
“For so long,” Popola looked to the ground and tried to keep her breath in check, “we wondered for so long what we did wrong. And only now,” she sniffed loudly, “only now we learn it was a set of code that made us feel so horrible?!”  
  
“The mandate from the CCC was that all Overseer Twin units were to be stopped from all attempts to recreate the failure that was the original project. That purpose is at an end now,” Amaryllis answered, apathetic to Popola’s display.  
  
Popola was about to stand up and vent when Devola held an arm in front of her. “It’s alright,” Devola whispered, “there’s not much for us to lose. And if it’s genuine, then, just imagine...”  
  
Popola sniffed again and wiped the tears from her face as she nodded and turned around to let Amaryllis do her work.  
  
The taller android nodded, then bent over to open a panel on the back of Popola’s neck. From her pack, Amaryllis brought out a small device with a needle-thin point with a singular green light on the tip. The butt end of the handle opened, along with Amaryllis’ index finger. A slight click indicated her connection to the tool and its subsequent access of Popola’s systems.  
  
Popola felt the foreign influence in the back of her mind, however, she remained still as she felt the poke of executables and command lines to that unending feeling of guilt that often weight down her systems.  
  
Then, like a momentary jolt of pain, the weight of guilt returned in force as if she had pulled her hand back from an open flame. She blinked and looked up as Amaryllis removed the tool and closed the panel on her neck.  
  
“Is... is that it?”she rubbed her beck when Amaryllis took a step back.  
  
“Correct,” she answered, still placid and unemotional as she turned to Devola, “I can replicate the procedure for you as well or you can download the override code from when you two next sync together.”  
  
Devola was silent a moment before she turned to Popola. “How does it feel?”  
  
Popola looked around for a moment to gather her thoughts. A small smile began to grow on her face as she whispered, “it’s gone.”  
  
Devola quickly closed the distance between them and hugged her twin dearly. “Good. Good. I’m so relieved. I was worried that-“  
  
“Shh,” Popola whispered as new tears slowly trailed out of her eyes, “It’s ok. It’s ok now.”  
  
Devola, in a rare moment of vulnerability, sniffed and rocked her twin gently as the override code made its way into her own subconscious.  
  
Amaryllis said nothing, only turned around and departed as quietly as she she arrived.  
  
“It’s ok now,” Popola repeated as the horrible weight that made their lives unbearable began to fade.  
  
*  
  
Anemone watched with clear suspicion as Amaryllis walked out of the camp. No one paid her any heed and no one stopped to question her.  
  
The Bouquet was not something she wanted to deal with at the moment. What few had dealings with them had no idea who or what they answered to, even if they were androids of a very limited model line. Especially since she was about to make her report about the nuHumans to the CCC.  
  
She sat in front of her console and hooked herself into the network that was in the middle of reconstruction. There would be far flung stations and bases that would get her news later, however, they would learn soon enough.  
  
“This is Vanguard-1 Head, Anemone, reporting.”  
  
“The CCC acknowledges Anemone of Vanguard-1. What is there to report?”  
  
“I have compiled a report that I feel both CCC and the entire android population at large should know.”  
  
“Acknowledged. What is the nature of the report?” The many voices of the CCC answered to all androids attached to the network.  
  
“It concerns a discovery made at the end of the Machine Android War that ended approximately twenty eight pseudo-cycles ago. When Machine Lifeform activity around the world completely ceased.”  
  
“There have been inquiries regarding the impetus for the Machine Lifeforms deactivation. Does the report have an answer?”  
  
“Correct. I have reason to believe that the Machine Lifeforms had created an ark of some sort, and launched it from what was initially a rail gun meant to destroy the facility on the moon.  
  
“At 17:45 hours, local time, the ark launched into high orbit and it can be concluded with what few long range scan satellites we had available that the ark utilized the gravitational pull of the planet and used it to project itself into space.”  
  
“The CCC can verify these readings. Though, they were unsure of the objects identity at the time.”  
  
“So, after the collapse of the tower and the subsequent stations jettisoned around the area, we made several deductions that may explain what happened in the report I will upload to the CCC.”  
  
Anemone took a deep breath and whispered to herself, “here goes nothing.”  
  
She hit the execute key and the file with the report of everything she had Jackass had learned was uploaded to the entire network of androids around the world.  
  
At first, she sat back and await the response. All activity in the network was initially chatty, however, when the report spread, there was a general sense of quiet that left Anemone unnerved.  
  
“No,” the leader of a shocktrooper battalion in the European zone said, “that can’t be. No, it’s... That can’t... I don’t believe...”  
  
Vocal traffic began to grow from one group to another in attempts to understand what exactly Anemone’s report had said.   
  
The CCC turned back to Anemone. “And what has enabled you to discover these logs and verify their authenticity?”  
  
Anemone nodded and hit the execute function again to send a second report.  
  
“Not long after the Tower’s fall, I came upon a hive cluster of Machine Lifeforms that replicated the creation process of the Machine Lifeforms designated, ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’. From that cluster, a dozen individuals emerged. All of them female in appearance in one form or another; such as skin tones, height, weight, build, and so on. Many of them reminiscent of the discontinued YorHa units.  
  
“However, unlike ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’, they have the genetic makeup of humans. They are not at all mechanical or artificial in any way, shape, or form. They have the strengths and frailties of humanity. They have the promise and failures of humanity. They *are* humanity. Humanity has returned. That is my report. I will continue to elaborate when I have more data.”  
  
Immediately, the entire network of the android populace blew up in questions and shock.  
  
“That’s impossible!” A delegate from the Australian Android Coalition bellowed, “they’ve been dead for years! How the hell have Machine Lifeforms been able to do that?! How-“  
  
“ENOUGH!” The CCC roared throughout the network to silence the verbal chaos that went around them, “Anemone, we request more information. The reports you have submitted are thorough, but it leaves more questions than answers.”  
  
“That is why I am still observing them to see if they hold any attributes from the Machine Lifeforms, since it was they who created them.”  
  
“Very well,” the voices of the CCC answered and the rest of the android populace calmed down, “when you have more substantial answers concerning these nuHumans, please submit them. Until we have a more concrete answers, this will have to do.”  
  
“Understood,” she cut herself off from the network and leaned back. With a long suffering sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair and wondered how much longer this ordeal would be.  
  
*  
  
Veda sat quietly across from Pascal in the remains of a hut next to the tree.  
  
They had recounted the tales of what had happened since their last meeting.  
  
Veda’s end as 2B and the end of YorHa.  
  
Pascal’s loss of all that he had come to care for under his charge.  
  
He looked to the ground as a flock of birds soared overhead.  
  
“I am... surprised I am still here, after everything,” Pascal noted as he remembered Veda’s story of her rebirth.  
  
“We’re still trying to figure out what happened and why,” Veda admitted as she held her cloak around her a bit tighter. While the forest was verdant, she couldn’t help but feel a chill she could not explain.  
  
“Perhaps,” Pascal offered, “it was because the rest of the machines had realized there was no point in fighting anymore. Even with the overarching directive to defeat the enemy, I can’t help but feel that maybe they’ve expanded the parameters of what that meant.”  
  
“Sounds like they couldn’t do that here anymore,” Veda observed, “but what still puzzles me is why they revived me and the other YorHa androids.”  
  
“Well,” Pascal looked up to her, “you were, for all intents and purposes, our children, stolen from us from YorHa.”  
  
Veda looked up, surprised, “wait, what?”  
  
Pascal was not prepared for her shock. “Ever since YorHa was first deployed. We could tell that there was something familiar about them. We avoided them out of fear of reprisal, but a when a squad of YorHa had passed by our home, we could feel the exact same presence we did amongst ourselves. Yes, the black boxes became more advanced as time went on, but all the same, we knew that at their core, the Machine Lifeforms and YorHa were one and the same.”  
  
Veda, along with the rest of the nuHumans had learned that their YorHa black boxes were recycled Machine Cores, but the fact that Pascal knew left her speechless.  
  
Then, she stood up and yelled, “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING?!”  
  
Pascal cringed and held up his arms. “W-would you have believed me?”  
  
Immediately, she regret her outburst and slumped back in her seat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.”  
  
Pascal sat upright again and nodded. “It’s ok. You’ve gone through quite a bit.”  
  
Veda shook her head. “No, that’s no excuse. Ever since we first met, you’ve been only kind and helpful to us,” her frown grew deeper, “and it makes me feel even worse when I want to ask you of something more.”  
  
“Oh?” Pascal was curious.   
  
“We,” Veda began with difficulty, “the rest of us are feeling cramped and claustrophobic in the Androids’ camp. We need somewhere else to live. If it’s no bother, could you let us live here?”  
  
Now it was Pascal’s turn to be surprised. “Oh, you would move here?”  
  
Veda nodded. “It’s close to a source of water, away from the city where a lot of us died, and it would be a nice place to start over. Even in this condition.”  
  
Pascal was silent for a moment. “If, if you don’t mind, could I give it some thought? While it would be nice not to be alone anymore, I’m not so sure I could go through learning to care for others, only to lose them again.”  
  
Veda opened her mouth to protest, but then she remembered what had happened. The machine lifeform children that had, out of fear, killed themselves, and a seemingly cruel A2, instead of immediate death or a memory wipe at her hands, had left him to wallow in his grief.  
  
“Alright,” she stood up, “if you find an answer, you can contact us at the Anemone’s camp.”  
  
Pascal bowed slightly. “Thank you, Veda.”  
  
As she walked out of the house and into the forest once again, she turned back a moment to see him silent and unmoving. Still lost in thought. Or memories.  
  
She did not know how right she was as Pascal played that horrid scene in his mind over and over again.  
  
_“Please,” he begged her, “I can’t live with this.”_  
  
_A2 looked him over a moment and said nothing. When it appeared she decided what to do, she simply turned around and walked slowly to the entrance. _  
  
_“A2,” he sobbed, “how could you?”_  
  
_She did not respond at first. When the door opened to the light outside, she turned back and said, “that’s not my choice to make.”_  
  
Pascal could not let those words go.  
  
*  
  
“Camaxtli,” Renai called out to her from the entrance, “you’re back! What happened?”  
  
The aforementioned, with her goggles and cloak over her face waved at her when she had reached the entrance. “It’s hard to explain,” she then looked around, “is Veda here?”  
  
Renai shook her head. “She went to Pascal’s village to see if we could move there. I got a message from her that she’s on her way back, but that’s beside the point. We were worried about you when you left last night without saying anything.”  
  
Camaxtli smiled then lifted her hood. “I apologize for making you worry.”  
  
Renai huffed and put her hands on her hips. “Well, don’t do it again.”  
  
“So, the reason why I wanted to speak to Veda is because of someone I met. And I believe she knows who they were too.”  
  
“Hmm?”  
  
Camaxtli turned to where she can returned from. “I sensed something. Or, more accurately, someone call me. It was different than the Cooperative we share, but familiar enough that they could speak to me. So, I went to the desert and found... someone who was around a long time ago. Does the name Emil sound familiar?”  
  
“I... think Veda mentioned this person in passing once or twice,” Renai furrowed her brow.  
  
“Well, without getting too deep into it, they gave me a charge and now I have to figure out what that charge is,” Camaxtli shrugged helplessly as she raised her goggles.  
  
“When you say that, what do you mean?”  
  
“Like, a purpose,” Camaxtli folded her arms, “whatever it is I’m supposed to do, I was given the ability to do it.”  
  
“And you don’t know what you’re supposed to do?” Renai asked, incredulous.  
  
“I’m just as frustrated as you,” Camaxtli answered, “though, I have a feeling it may have something to do with us being here, but until I figure that out, I’m at a loss.”  
  
“Well, until then, let’s get back. We need to speak with the others on other options on where to go in case we can’t move to the forest village.”  
  
“Agreed.”  
  
*  
  
The desert was still, which was a rare occurrence for anyone that visited it.  
  
However, the silence was broken as the door to the now defunct colosseum opened. Violently.  
  
Behind the door, something struck the metal plates repeatedly, which began to dent the doors at impossible angles. Then, the hinges on the doors broke and the doors tumbled in different directions as figures emerged from the entryway.  
  
Shiva, blackened ash and grey uniform, littered with patches of dried blood, strut out to the sand. She looked up to the sky, frowned at the sun, and tightened her grip on the lance she wielded.  
  
Behind her, ten other women of various sizes, shapes, and colors emerged. Each of them armed and armored in their own unique fashion. One time, Shiva would have been locked in combat with all of them and vice versa. And they would have killed each other nonstop since none of them could die.  
  
Much had changed.  
  
Shiva turned to them and nodded.  
  
While each of them had developed different motivations for their actions, their purpose, on the other hand, was one.  
  
None of them seemed deterred by the environment around them as they marched out into the desert and to the city.  
  
*  
  
21O sat alone on the top of the building the Androids’ resided in. The wind ruffled her hair every now and then, which made her consider the idea to comb it backward.   
  
It had been a day since Veda had returned from the forest with news. There was a chance they would be able to leave and start a new life.  
  
Provided Pascal, the sole occupant of said village, said yes, but that was something beyond what occupied her thoughts.  
  
Start a new life.  
  
It was oddly compelling for the former YorHa.  
  
Not just for herself, but to begin a new life with Veda and Renai. She knew those two were already close, but for them to invite them into their relationship, well aware of their involvement with their history, showed a level of trust she could not help but admire.  
  
Not to mention the idea of a new name of her very own made her smile a bit. When, not if, she chose a new name, it would be hers and hers alone. And she would share it with the two that, as far as 21O knew, cared for her.  
  
After Veda had returned, she had found 21O and sat with her for a moment as she defragmented another record server that was meant to optimize communication in further camps.  
  
Veda did not say much, however, 21O found her company pleasant. When the former had to leave to speak with the rest of the Cooperative, she held 21O’s hand for a moment. Veda’s touch eased the anxiety she felt about their future, as few of the nuHumans knew what they were supposed to do.  
  
The Androids were kind enough to let them stay and all, however, 21O noticed a large increase in comm traffic to their camp. While she did not know exactly what it read, she could not help but feel uncomfortable whenever another android that was not part of Anemone’s group appeared, only to vanish as soon as they arrived.  
  
“Fascinating,” a new voice whispered behind 21O, which caused her to jump and whirl around to see who her visitor was.  
  
A smaller, pale skinned woman, a mop of brown hair, and clad in a green and white cloak with similarly colored fatigues stood with her hands behind her back.  
  
“Who are you?” 21O asked, wary.  
  
The visitor smiled. A long and mischievous smile that made 21O all the more suspicious. “Oh, no one of consequence.”  
  
21O frowned. “What is your name and designation?”  
  
The visitor rolled her eyes. “Oh, if you must know, I’m Lily. A member of ‘The Bouquet’. As for the details,” she held an index finger up to her lips, “that’s classified.“  
  
21O fought to keep her breath in check as she stood taller than Lily. “What is it you want?”  
  
Lily chuckled. “Oh, so many things,” she turned around a moment to take in the view, “for myself, that is neither here nor there. As for the rest of us, idle curiosity. We’ve heard rumblings that humanity has returned.”  
  
She turned back and the unsettling smile returned. “I just came to examine the veracity of such claims.”  
  
21O walked slowly around her, the stairs in the corner of her eye.  
  
“We’ve been told that the Machine Lifeforms, in an unusual action, created these so-called ‘nuHumans’,” Lily’s eyes widened with both curiosity and mania as she began to walk to 21O, “I’m curious; if you're cut, do you bleed?!”  
  
21O tried to dive for the stairs, but Lily was too fast for her and the last thing she saw was the glint on the edge of a knife as she closed her eyes.  
  
When nothing happened, she looked up to see Camaxtli held Lily’s wrist with a visible frown.  
  
“That’s enough,” Camaxtli said as she wound up and threw Lily across the roof with less effort than it appeared.  
  
Lily slid on her feet until she got her balance back and snarled. “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt someone else’s amusement?!”  
  
She was about to charge when she froze in her tracks and realized that she could not move. Something held her in place as Camaxtli’s eyes glowed gently.  
  
“I said that’s enough. I don’t want to harm you, but if you don’t leave them be, I will,” Camaxtli warned as she rose a hand and snapped her fingers.  
  
Lily suddenly found herself able to move as she got her balance back again. With bared teeth and a low growl in the back of her throat she backed herself to the edge.  
  
“Fine,” she conceded, “but know that we will find out just how human you are. If you’re even human at all!” She then flung herself off the edge and down the side of the building.  
  
21O finally let go of the breath she had been holding and collapsed to the ground. Camaxtli turned and helped her to her feet.  
  
“Sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” Camaxtli apologized as she threw one of 21O’s arms over her shoulder to help her down the stairs.  
  
“It’s alright,” 21O answered, still slightly dizzy, “I just didn’t expect an android of all people to be so hostile. Also, you did you know she was going to attack me?”  
  
“It does make sense, though,” Camaxtli said as they descended down the stairs, “the androids still bear some wounds for being unable to save humanity in the first place. And when we came along, naturally, some would not believe it, since they believed it was their charge to bring humanity back. As for how I knew to come up to stop Lily, it's hard to explain. For now, I'll say it was just a premonition and leave it at that.”  
  
“Then, I assume this means more androids may turn against us?” 21O suddenly found the concept frightening.  
  
Camaxtli was silent as they reached the halfway point to the ground floor. “I don’t know,” she finally answered, “all that matters is that humanity has returned in a way that the androids did not account for. And that’s hurt them in a way that I’m not sure even they are aware of.”  
  
*  
  
The Children, huddled in baskets and jars, slowly woke in skin of clay.  
  
Confused, they combed the land to look for succor.  
  
They did find other survivors, the Servants, however, upon discovery of the Children, the Servants were confused as well.   
  
The Servants took the children as their own and raised them as they rebuilt their home.  



	10. Chapter 10

_Veda_, 21O announced through the Cooperative, _Pascal is on the comm and wants to speak with you_.

When the woman in question walked over to 21O’s comm station, she stepped aside to let Veda take the seat and put on the headset.  
  
“Hello?” She asked to see Pascal’s face on the other side of the call.  
  
“Veda, thank you for answering. I’ve come to a decision concerning what we discussed,” Pascal began, “you and the other nuHumans may take up residence here. It will take some time to restore it to a state where one could consider it livable, but it would be no burden on me.”  
  
Veda smiled widely as she nodded. ‘Thank you, Pascal. We’ll help you rebuild.”  
  
“You have my thanks,” Pascal nodded before he ended the call.  
  
“So,” 21O observed, “it’s really happening. We’re going to have a real home soon.”  
  
“Yes, but,” Veda turned to her, “it was damaged rather badly during the last part of the Machine War. We’ll have to learn how to build our own homes.”  
  
21O gave her a wane smile. “We have all learned how to do things that was outside of our purview since our rebirth. I think we’ll survive.”  
  
Veda was silent a moment before she looked up to 21O, “Renai did inform you about our proposal, didn’t she?”  
  
21O’s smile grew warm. “She did. And I accepted.”  
  
Doubt still crossed Veda’s face. “Knowing that I was the one that murdered 9S? Time after time because I was an E type unit, meant to stop him from finding the truth?”  
  
21O slowly turned serene. “Are you still 2E?”  
  
Veda blinked before she shook her head. “No, I’m not.”  
  
21O knelt beside her and embraced Veda around the shoulders. With her head on top of Veda’s, she whispered, “then why do you still question if you are or not?”  
  
Veda was silent a moment, but eventually leaned into 21O. “Force of habit, I suppose,” she looked up to 21O, “you seem to have taken to this new arrangement rather quickly.”  
  
21O let go and took a seat beside her. “I suppose I am a bit eager to see an end to my loneliness.”  
  
Veda chuckled lightly. “I wouldn’t blame you. After every... extermination, I often had to stay with Renai when she was 6O for a few days to finally allow myself the time to breathe again.”  
  
21O closed her eyes in thought for a moment. “I often read from Old World literature that humans were always social creatures. Even those detached felt the need for connections from something or someone.”  
  
“Do you suppose that is what makes us human?” Veda asked, curious.  
  
21O shrugged her shoulders. “A part of it, yes.”  
  
*  
  
Camaxtli, hidden beneath her white and red cloak, sat in the shadows of the rafters of the building the Resistance camp was in.  
  
She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach that Lily was not as gone as she had hoped. Not to mention she needed to speak to Anemone about Lily.  
  
_Camaxtli, what’s wrong?_ She heard Renai ask through the Cooperative.  
  
_I’m not entirely sure. But ever since that android attacked 21O, I’ve just had a feeling that we may not be safe here anymore. I’m keeping watch just in case they return again._  
  
_ Wait, an android?! I thought androids were on our side!_  
  
_ They are, but it looks like some of them take issue with us. They don’t believe we’re human because of how we came to be._  
  
_ I... I didn’t realize that. So, what do we do?_  
  
_ Inform Veda and the others to get ready as soon as we can. We need to leave. Now._  
  
_ What about the twins?_  
  
_ If they still wish to come, then they best be prepared as well._  
  
_ Alright. I’ll let the Twins know._  
  
_ There’s something else._  
  
_ What is it?_  
  
_ Shiva and the Conflict. I can sense they’re no longer in the desert. They’ve left and they’re headed in this direction._  
  
_ What are they going to do?_  
  
_ I don’t know and that worries me. During my time among them, it seemed they only wanted to fight amongst themselves. They wanted nothing to do with anyone else. The fact they are on their way means something has changed. But what, I don’t know._  
  
_ Alright. I’ll let the others know._  
  
_ Thank you, Renai._  
  
_ And Camaxtli._  
  
_ Hm? _  
  
_ Be careful._  
  
_ I will._  
  
She let go of the conversation to focus her eyes through the shadows, how she did it, she wasn’t sure, however, she could see traces of someone that had been here.  
  
There were disturbances in the debris and foot prints in the dust.  
  
She could see it. Almost as if a memory had come to life before her eyes, a brief vision of Lily as she leaped and jumped through the area to reach a better vantage point of the camp.  
  
Camaxtli stood up and walked to the window. She leaned against the wall beside the opening and peeked past the edge to get a look at the general vicinity. Lily was nowhere to be seen, however, that didn’t mean she had left.  
  
Camaxtli had a feeling that the power Emil gave her had something to do with it, because she now saw everything far more differently a moment ago. She could see everything as colorless and dull, from the sky, to the foliage, and the ocean in the distance.  
  
However, there was a very noticeable, black splotch, that burst with malice, in on the roof of another building. Sure enough, focus brought Lily into her sight. The android in question sat in a alcove, covered in shadows, and still as death.  
  
Camaxlti then walked backward a bit before she picked up a rock the size of her palm. She took aim and pitched the rock as hard as she could. The rock sped through the air and towards Lily’s location. A cloud of dust burst from the contact and Lily leaped out from the top and back on the roof of the building she hid in.  
  
Aware that she would not be able to continue her surveillance, Lily snarled loudly enough for Camaxlti to hear and dashed away.  
  
Camaxlti let loose a breath she held in.  
  
She was lucky this time. She didn’t want to think of what would happen if another member of this Bouquet or more of them appeared.  
  
*  
  
Word had gotten out among the nuHumans.  
  
They gathered what few possessions they had and gathered, gradually, near the front entrance of the camp.  
  
A fact that many of the androids there did not miss.  
  
“So, you’re really leaving, huh?” Jackass asked with her arms folded.  
  
“Yes,” Veda answered as she closed up the last of her pack, “it’s... complicated to explain. However, it’s better for us to leave and find someplace better suited for us.”  
  
Jackass furrowed her brows then looked around to the ruins and the camp itself. “Yeah. I can see that. We’ve been at this place for almost five years. I’m surprised we haven’t done anything to spruce the it up during that time.”  
  
Veda gave her a humored smile as she slung the bag over her back. “Maybe you’ll get the time now, since the war is over.”  
  
Jackass snorted. “Nah. I’m just going to go back to the desert and see if I can find anything else worth blowing up.... somewhere not near Shiva and her gang. Never was one for decorating.”  
  
Veda found herself unable to answer to that. Since the chance of Shiva and the Conflict on their way to the camp was a real possibility, they had to leave. For Anemone and her camp’s sake, if not for just their own.  
  
“I’m sure we can think of something to help you with. I mean, I’ve noticed other androids with those E-drugs of yours. I’m surprised Anemone hasn’t disciplined you for those yet.”  
  
Jackass chuckled nervously. “Yeah... about that. Anemone wasn’t too pleased about it and had me destroy the last batch because one of our Scout units had a bad trip with them and, well, you can guess the rest.”  
  
Veda sighed a bit. “Don’t change, Jackass,” she said with leveled eyes and an even voice.  
  
“Can do!” She answered boisterously as she took her leave.  
  
Veda looked behind her to see the remaining nuHumans join the rest of the group.  
  
“Are we ready?” She asked 21O and Renai.  
  
Both of them nodded.   
  
“One of my group went ahead and found a shortcut through the buildings we could use to go straight to the entrance of the forest,” 21O answered as she adjusted her coat and picked up the bag with the communication set that was given to her.  
  
Renai looked to both of them and silently inclined her head to other direction at the entrance. “It can help us keep a low profile.”  
  
21O nodded in agreement. “I’ve noticed more transports make landfall on the coast. More of the main android forces. We should be gone by the time they arrive.”  
  
“Let’s go, then,” Veda announced and lead the way.  
  
Immediately, the rest of the nuHumans had followed and left the camp unceremoniously.  
  
Anemone, on the other hand, watched them leave, but said nothing.  
  
The CCC was adamant about them staying, since they wanted to examine the nuHumans.  
  
Anemone had advised against it, since the fact that humans had returned, it was now a precarious place for them to be.  
  
Thankfully, the CCC relented and agreed that the chance for them to examine them in depth would come eventually.  
  
However, Anemone could feel rumblings from other android commanders. Frankly, she couldn’t blame them.  
  
Several members of her intel team had analyzed blood samples from the nuHumans and, to their surprise, found it matched everything about the humans from the Old World. Except, there was one noticeable difference;  
  
NuHumans had a hyper-evolutionary adaptation aspect to their DNA that seemed to be made with the current world as it was in mind.  
  
It left Anemone with the uneasy feeling that if they truly were human, based off of the Project: Gestalt samples, then they would not be able to survive this world.  
  
The sheer amount of UV radiation permeated in the air would have killed a normal human by now. And that was just one potential danger.  
  
The Machine Lifeforms, it seemed, had understood humanity’s frailties more than the androids did. And it left a very sour taste in her mouth.  
  
“They’ve departed, haven’t they?” A new, but familiar voice, asked from behind her.  
  
Anemone turned around and held in a gasp. She turned back to the entrance of the camp and then back to her visitor.  
  
“It is what you think,” the visitor answered calmly.  
  
“So, how did you survive?” Anemone asked as she made a quick glance around her.  
  
“By all rights, I should not have,” they answered as she walked into the light to reveal the same black and white combat outfit of a YorHa android, “however, it turns out the Support Pods we have developed a fondness for us and took us out of the cycle of death and rebirth.”  
  
“So, 2B,” Anemone folded her arms, “what will you do now that the war is over?”  
  
“2E,” she corrected Anemone, “and I currently do not know. Much like the rest of the androids, we are trying to come to process the idea that we are no longer needed in this world.”  
  
Anemone inhaled broadly. “I can understand. Just, be careful, the other you, the human you rather, would be surprised at finding you still around after all that’s happened.”  
  
2E nodded. “Understood. I have given it thought and I have come to the conclusion that the pods, 9S, A2, and myself are going to leave. There is nothing left for us here, after all.”  
  
“Where will you go?”  
  
2E was pensive a moment. “I do not have an answer yet. However, we have been able to requisition a transport. We will be leaving.”  
  
Anemone gave her a long look before she sighed. She could have used an ally like 2E, but alas. She walked up to 2E and extended her hand. “In that case, farewell and be safe. Hope you find your own purpose now.”  
  
2E gave her a rare smile as she took Anemone’s hand and shook it. “We will.”  
  
*  
  
The guard of the Resistance camp frowned. Ever since he got told off by that nuHuman for telling those damn twins to leave, he had been ‘admonished’ by command to give it a rest.  
  
Well, he figured, the one good thing about the nuHumans leaving was that they took the Twins with them. Good riddance, he thought. It had only been a day or two, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get back to work.  
  
He then blinked and noticed movement from the west. From what he could see, eleven people had emerged from the ruins of the city to the road that lead to their camp.  
  
In front of them, a woman with long, ashen gray hair, and a spear on her back, lead the remaining ten other women.  
  
“Halt,” he held out his hand as the leader approached, “are you more of those nu-*HURK!*”  
  
Shiva angled her lance higher to let the quickly dying android slide to her down the shaft. “Where is she?” She snarled as the menace in her voice grew.  
  
“Who?!” He asked as she struggled to free himself. The lance had pierced his engine core and unless he got aid soon, he was a goner.   
  
“The Traitor!” Shiva slung him against the wall and ran him through with the point of her weapon. He struggled for only a moment before he went still.  
  
“She is not here,” a smaller woman at Shiva’s side, who wore a collection of red and pink robes around her and with several nose rings chained to her ear, noted sourly,“nor are the others. So, killing him was utterly pointless.”  
  
Shiva looked into the camp and felt the same void that Indra, the woman who just spoke, had felt. They were too late.  
  
“Do we know which way they went?” Shiva asked a brown skinned woman, covered with furs, multiple black braids, and several small hatchet that hung from her waist.  
  
Ictinike, annoyed momentarily, made an appraisal of the camp, then knelt on the ground by the corner of the barrier of the entrance.  
  
She closed her eyes a moment and put her palm on the ground. She furrowed her brow in concentration, as if she tried to hear something or someone that had been through.  
  
Her eyes opened and she stood up to look in the direction where their prey had escaped. “They have gone to the forest. No more than a day ago.”  
  
Shiva frowned and yanked her lance out of the dead android. She turned around and marched quickly in pursuit with the other ten not far after her.  
  
“Wait!” A new voice announced as Shiva and her cohorts saw a squadron of Combat Androids approach from the crater. “What have you done?!!” The leader looked to the deceased guard and back to her, shocked and horrified.  
  
Shiva snarled and gripped her lance. The rest of the Conflict did not give the androids a chance to react as they screamed loudly, charged, and tore into them with the same brutal force they had shown each other before. Patience had worn thin and broke. If the androids wished to stand in their way, then that suited Shiva just fine.  
  
Mercilessly, they killed the androids who had regrouped too late as one by one, the Conflict sent artificial gore and parts everywhere. Mid the combat, their screams slowly changed to that of a chorus of horrifying harmony.  
  
_This raucous scene_  
  
Agasaya, a large and muscular olive-skinned woman with a hammer as large as she was, crushed the head in of an android unfortunate enough to be in reach. She then waved the hammer around and tossed the corpse into another pair of androids, who tumbled away and into the crater nearby.  
  
_In idle tongues_  
  
Andraste, a lithe and wiry white woman with warpaint and a mask of the desert, shot metal arrows with terrifying accuracy to immediately disarm, and subsequently impale, three androids in quick succession.  
  
_We see in all its horror_  
  
Pele, a darker skinned woman, adorned in skins like Ictinike, hurled knives that pierced through the androids’ armored shells and subsequently decapitated them when they were staggered.  
  
_In solemn song_  
  
Jarovit, a pale and stout woman in rags and loosely assembled metal pieces, hurled javelins that pinned an android to the wall.  
  
_This profane tone_  
  
Beg-tse, leaped over an android before her chain-lash encircled its neck and began to swing it around before its head fell off and crashed into the wall.  
  
_We live and die in slaughter_  
  
Shiva forced her boot into the back of an android that attempted to flee and stabbed her lance into its neck. She almost felt insulted how quickly the androids fell, aware at how long they had fought the Machine Lifeforms.  
  
Briefly, she saw the desolation they had wrought on the androids before she felt the void that had left them all consumed and angered. These kills gave them no pleasure and until they became whole again, it would remain this way.  
  
“Move,” she ordered as she and the Conflict made their way to the forest.  
  
*  
  
Renai tightened the hinges on what would be the door to their small house on one of the lower rings of the tree. The village was large enough to accommodate them all of the nuHumans, thankfully, and they all had taken a liking to Pascal because of the shared memories of both 2B and A2.  
  
Pascal regularly paced around the village to assist any one that required his assistance and the thought made Renai smile.  
  
She gave the door an experimental push and sure enough, it opened to the outside. In the distance , both the amusement park and the forest castle sat with no light or activity from either. Both places, according to Pascal, had gone silent. Both were now devoid of active Machine Lifeforms.  
  
Renai wondered if there were any other groups of nuHumans that had appeared there as well. If not, then, she couldn’t help but wonder at the fact that they were the only humans alive now. Only thirty-six as part of the Cooperative.  
  
Wait, she wondered, the Conflict would make it forty-eight. Though, she wondered if the Conflict was as hostile as Camaxtli said they were before she left them.  
  
“Something on your mind?” Veda’s voice brought her back to reality as she turned back to see the aforementioned approach their small home with blankets for them to sleep on.  
  
“A lot of things,” Renai answered with a small smile, “I could also be worrying over nothing.” She tied off the last of the hinge, stood up, and dusted herself off.  
  
“It’s the Conflict, isn’t it?” Veda noted calmly.  
  
Renai nodded. “Yes. The fact that they were on the move made me wonder if it was wise for us to leave the Android camp. And what they want.”  
  
“You’re not wrong to wonder,” Veda noted as Renai opened the door for her.  
  
“14D, I mean, Desmond was right when she noted that we can sense Camaxtli only because she joined us. 21O couldn’t until Shiva gave her those memories of the tower,” Renai folded her arms in frustration as Veda placed the blankets in the corner next to the pillows they had brought with them. “I worry that they might want to do us harm.”  
  
Veda looked to her for a long minute, her expression unreadable.  
  
“And I’d be powerless to do anything,” Veda whispered to herself more than her.  
  
Renai smiled a bit before she closed the distance between them and embraced Veda dearly.  
  
“It’s an odd feeling,” Veda admitted, “I can no longer do anything I did as 2B.”  
  
Renai pulled back, but still held Veda’s hands. “That came with its own drawbacks, you know.” She got on her toes and kissed Veda’s nose. “We wouldn’t be able to do this.”  
  
“Seriously, though,” Veda appreciated the gesture, but reluctantly had to return to the matter at hand, “if the Conflict does appear and want us dead, the only thing we can do would be to flee.”  
  
“We’ll flee then,” Renai answered, still slightly apprehensive, “we’ll find a way.”  
  
*  
  
The Children grew among the Servants.  
  
Yet, they knew they were different and longed for home.  
  
The Servants, unaware of where the Children came from, grew worried that the Children would leave and turn on them.  
  
Though their love was unconditional, their fear still left their hearts heavy.  
  
For now, though, the Children and the Servants lived together.  
  
For it was all they knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics the Conflict sing are a phonetic reading of the first chorus from 'A Beautiful Song'. Yes, the lyrics are in Chaos language and have no real translation, but hey, that's what makes it so great!


	11. Chapter 11

Camaxtli had chosen to reside in the house closest to the heart of the tree.  
  
She couldn’t properly articulate why, but she felt drawn to it. Perhaps it was the tree itself that left her with a feeling of familiarity.  
  
The hut she had chosen wasn’t particularly large, but it was enough for her.  
  
Sadly, the various conflicts that had occurred had left the roof and back wall partially eaten away by fire and decay. It would take a bit of time to rebuild.  
  
She huffed and pulled back the plated wood from the wall. It was light enough that she could easily move it out of the way and outside. When she came back in, she paused when she discovered a hallway that lead into the tree itself.  
  
Curious, she knelt down and crawled into the passageway. She narrowed her eyes and with an unbidden command, Emil’s power activated again and she found herself able to see through the dark.  
  
Initially, she was enthusiastic about what Emil had given her. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Especially since those feelings of familiarity had gotten stronger the deeper into the tree she went. Apprehension wriggled in her stomach when she felt the path start to descended and circle. She had gotten this far, she may as well see it through.  
  
She wasn’t sure how much time it had taken her, but when the passage finally opened up, she had to squint her eyes to fight against the sudden flood of light that nearly blinded her.  
  
She slowly got to her feet as her sight adjusted to the illumination. When clarity returned to her, she gasped at what stood before her.  
  
In the center of a large cavern, another tree stood tall and immense. However, upon closer inspection, it was not made of organic material. Wired, metal, and glass made it appear more like an artificial representation of what a tree was supposed to be.  
  
She slowly padded her way to the roots of the tree as the lights around her blinked with an electrical source she could not discern.  
  
Unsure what it was or its origins, she walked up to the edge and noticed a screen with a prompt.  
  
**Input Access Data?**  
  
Camaxtli blinked at the screen and noticed no means of input. Whatever this technology was, it was old. Ancient even. Perhaps it was even here during the times of the Old World.  
  
In a fit of inspiration, she reached out and placed her palm on the screen.  
  
The screen beeped once and the prompt was replaced with a new message as she pulled her hand back.  
  
**Access Data Variant Acknowledged.**  
  
** Greetings, Heir of Emil the Keeper.**  
  
She looked to her hand and back to the screen. It was incredible how it could tell that she was given Emil’s power or identity in this case.  
  
“He had hoped that someone like yourself would find this place,” a deep and gruff voice noted from her side.  
  
She turned to see a man sit casually on one of the many lines of wires that wove into the ground. He was tall, solidly built, with mop of unwieldy grey hair, and a mask that covered half of his face. His attire seemed out of place from what Camaxtli had known, however, he too held and air of familiarity to her. He also appeared faded, like he was a memory, more than anything.  
  
“Hello?” She asked with a tilted head.  
  
The man chuckled a bit before he held up his hand in greeting. “Hey,” he said simply before he stood up.  
  
“I assume by ‘he’, you mean Emil?” She asked as she turned herself to him.  
  
He nodded. “Right. Emil was the last of us able to make this plan work. While he knew his exact memory wouldn’t survive the defragmentation, all the copies he had made still remembered, at their center what it was we wanted to do.”  
  
Camaxtli folded her arms. “And that is?”  
  
“To start off better than before,” he paused before his smiled faded, “and to fix the errors we created so you wouldn’t have to pay for them.”  
  
“I’m not sure I follow,” Camaxtli frowned a bit.  
  
He looked to her a moment, exhaustion behind his gaze. He then stood on his feet and walked past her. He stared at nothing as he whispered, “I made a terrible mistake.”  
  
Camaxlti had her suspicions, mostly brought on by Emil’s memory, before she asked, “are you the one called Nier?”  
  
He nodded. “The Gestalt. What was supposed to be the salvation of humanity and their greatest triumph,” he quietly snorted bitterly, “and ended up a monument to its greatest failures.”  
  
“I know that the Project was a failure, but I doubt that it was that horrible,” Camaxlti found her confusion outpace her understanding.  
  
“It was worse,” he insisted as he folded his arms, “the project, meant to be a shell for humanity had gained a will of its own and while you know the rest, there was something else that happened.”  
  
“What was it?”  
  
He looked up to the tree around them. “Sleeping Beauty. She remembers everything and everyone from the Old World. In order to save someone very special to me, I chose to give my existence up in order to save her.”  
  
“Kaine,” she whispered, not aware that Emil’s memories had prompted the name.  
  
“I was content to simply be a forgotten memory,” his head drooped, “though, she was more stubborn than I gave her credit for. And, against all odds, she found me again. And, for a time, we were happy.”  
  
“I assume it didn’t last,” she asked, aware of details in the Project that would not have ended well.  
  
He shook his head. “No. When we started to die off, I looked over the documents Devola and Popola gave me. That was when I realized too late how badly I ruined everything.”  
  
She said nothing as he continued.  
  
“So, when she passed on, the rest of us came to realize that there was nothing we could do. The worst part was how angry my daughter, or at least that’s what I believed she was, became. She blamed the androids for ruining our lives and ran off for a season before it was my time.”  
  
He was quiet a moment. “The last thing I saw was her. Both of them. All of them. The ones that meant most to me. That I did everything for. That I ruined everything for.”  
  
“And so here you were, until the Machine Lifeforms arrived,” she answered, as she guessed to fill in the empty pieces of the story, “they integrated with... Sleeping Beauty and learned everything that was thought lost.”  
  
He nodded again. “While they maintained their directive, we were held as a... how do I explain it, a model for them to copy. It wasn’t until the conflict ended did we have a chance to fix our mistakes.”  
  
“And so, utilizing both their advanced technological state and your memory, you took the Project to its most possible conclusion as they left.”  
  
“Correct,” he turned to her, “and now, humans are back, aren’t they?”  
  
She nodded. “There’s less than a hundred of us, but, I suppose that was a choice on their parts. And there are quite a few differences among us too.”  
  
“Good,” he allowed himself a moment of relief, “I don’t know if this means I can finally rest or not.”  
  
“If recreating humans was your goal, I think you succeeded,” she tilted her head and gave him a reassuring smile.  
  
He was about to answer her when both off them felt something rumble from above.  
  
Camaxtli’s eyes grew wide as she felt a very familiar menace draw closer. “The Conflict!”  
  
She scrambled to the entrance and crawled back before Nier called after her, “Wait! The androids are in danger!”  
  
*  
  
Mouskouri, formerly 64B, fought back the scream as she held her head after she collided with the wall she had been tossed into.  
  
Shiva stomped over to her, raised her lance and stabbed it into the ground right beside Mouskouri’s head.  
  
“I am getting very, VERY fucking tired of asking,” Shiva snarled as the heat around her increased, “where is she? Where is the one that abandoned us?!”  
  
Veda ran over to Mouskouri, knelt beside her to hold her close, and looked up to Shiva, aware at the danger she was in. “I don’t know. None of us know. We just arrived here.”  
  
While she was not really lying, as Camaxtli had vanished a while ago, she didn’t want to put her friend in danger as Shiva appeared ready to kill them all.  
  
Shiva narrowed her eyes at the sight of Veda. The memories were still fresh, even after all this time.  
  
“I should kill you for what you did to me,” Shiva growled in the back of her throat, “but that was another life. And that’s not why we’re here.”  
  
“So, why are you searching for Camaxtli? I thought you kicked her out,” Veda tested, aware that one wrong word would easily end it as the other nuHumans from their Cooperative watched from various hiding places, ready to run if need be.  
  
“That’s what I thought too,” Shiva said evenly as her anger smoldered for a moment, “we were wrong. She’s part of us, though it seems she acclimated with you. And we want her back,” she pulled her lance out and aimed the point right at Veda’s neck, “and if we have to kill all of you to do it, we will.”  
  
Veda fought against the shiver down her back. She couldn’t do anything, even if she wanted to.  
  
“You found me,” said a familiar voice from above them. The gaze of all members of the Conflict and the Cooperative looked up to see Camaxtli at the top of the tree.  
  
“I refuse to return,” Camaxtli announced defiantly, “you want me, come get me.”  
  
Andraste quickly raised her bow and fired two arrows, but were deflected and sent harmlessly into the forest by flashing shards of light that circled Camaxtli.  
  
Camaxtli then used the branches nearby to take a leap out of the village and deeper into the forest.  
  
“Get her!” Shiva roared and gave chase as the rest of the Conflict followed suit.  
  
All except Indra, who turned to them. “I repeat this for your sake,” she announced ominously, “she is the one we want. Not you. Stay out of our way, you will be able to live the rest of your lives quietly. If not, it will end as badly as it did for a bunch of androids who tried to interfere.”  
  
Veda fought to keep her breath steady as Indra took flight after the rest of the Conflict. When she was gone, Veda sighed loudly and nearly collapsed to the ground, but not before Mouskouri caught her.  
  
“The irony of you saving me after what happened when we were both YorHa is not lost on me,” she said as she fought against her own fear.  
  
It caught Veda off guard as she sat up. “I... oh,” the memories came back quickly, but faded just as fast, “it didn’t occur to me at the time. I mean, we’re part of the same group, aren’t we?”  
  
Mouskouri nodded with a sad smile. “We are. And thank you.”  
  
“Veda!” Renai cried and hugged a surprised Veda desperately, “I was so scared! I thought she was going to hurt you!”  
  
Veda embraced her back. “So was I,” she sighed and put her face into Renai’s shoulder.  
  
“You’re not hurt, are you?” 21O asked as she approached with one eye towards the exit where the Conflict had left.  
  
Veda shook her head and joined 21O in her observance briefly as they held hands to steady the formers’ nerves. “Just a little shaken, is all,” she inclined her head to Mouskouri, “she may need some help. She got it worse than I did.”  
  
8B and 22B had already arrived and brought the groggy Mouskouri to her feet. “I’ll be fine,” she answered as she fought to keep her balance, even with the additional support, “I was just caught off guard when she appeared.”  
  
“So, they’re after Camaxtli?” Renai observed as she let go of Veda.  
  
“It looks like it,” she answered, “and while I heard what they said, I can’t help but feel worried.”  
  
“I’ll give the Resistance camp in the city a call,” 21O said as she turned around and ran back to the station they had designated for communications, “I don’t like the implications of what that woman said.”  
  
*  
  
Anemone looked about in horror at the scene in front of her.  
  
Thirty combat androids, a few of them part of her previous units, all lay strewn about like twisted trophies. They had powered down and allowed their defenses to lower for a rest cycle. When they had awoken, Anemone had the worst feeling when the guard didn’t return from duty.  
  
Her breath came faster as the sights of her former comrades’ death masks left a horrid idea as to how this happened. But the Machine Lifeforms were supposed to be dead.  
  
“The Machine Lifeforms didn’t do this,” Lily whispered as she drew up to Anemone’s side with a large frown on her face, “those... humans did this.”  
  
Anemone turned to her. “Wait, what? You can’t be serious. The nuHumans from our camp were barely away from camp when this happened. Unless,” she slowed down in horrid realization.  
  
“Not those ones. The ones from the desert,” Lily added as she knelt down in front of the decapitated head of the squad leader. She brought it up to her own forehead, closed her eyes and accessed the last memories of the soldier.  
  
“These nuHumans are dangerous,” she said as she placed the head down, “it was why this squad was ordered here as a means to properly assess the probable threat these nuHumans have.”  
  
Anemone frowned. “Why wasn’t I informed?”  
  
“Tear didn’t see the reason for it,” Lily stood up and brushed the debris off her cloak casually, “besides, would you rather these nuHumans do this to your camp instead?”  
  
“You don’t know that!” Anemone protested as she felt her control slip. She almost mentioned Shiva by name, but felt better of it. The Bouquet knew too much already.  
  
“Suit yourself,” Lily spat curtly before she turned around, “it’s only a matter of time before the CCC consider them no different than the Machine Lifeforms and turn your little pets into lab experiments. I suggest you do something about it and soon if you still hold any fondness for those things.”  
  
Lily departed as quietly as she appeared, which left Anemone, and what few other guards to assist in the cleanup, to brood over what was to happen.  
  
A signal from camp brought her back to the present as one of her comm officers asked, “ma’am, we’re getting a communique from Pascal’s village, want me to put it through?”  
  
“Go ahead,” she said as she turned away to let her crew continue, uncomfortable with the sight.  
  
“Anemone?” She heard 21O’s voice on the other end ask.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
There was a slight pause of relief. “Are you unhurt?”  
  
“I’m fine, why?”  
  
“The Conflict just came through here. They were after Camaxtli. She lead them off, but they mentioned other androids,” 21O recited.  
  
“Yes, a squad on its way to our camp ran into them. There’s not much left.”  
  
“...I see. So it wasn’t an idle threat then.”  
  
“No,” she turned back to see a worker pick up the headless corpse of one of the androids, “you said they were after Camaxtli. Do you know where they went and how long ago?”  
  
“I do not know,” she answered after a second’s thought, “however, they departed less than half an hour ago.”  
  
“Are any of your people hurt?”  
  
“One suffered bruises, but nothing else. However, some of us wonder if it would be safe for us to stay here. We would not be able to defend ourselves from the Conflict if they decided to return and attack.”  
  
Anemone thought long and hard.  
  
Humans had returned and it was already a bloody mess. It wouldn’t be long before the CCC got word of this and the rest of the Android forces would be up in arms.  
  
She closed her eyes as she came to a decision. “Stay put. I’m going to find the Conflict and attempt to speak with... Shiva.” She wanted to say A2. They had been through much together and Anemone never had the chance to say goodbye to A2 or welcome her back as Shiva.  
  
“Are you certain that is wise? I met Shiva briefly briefly, but even then, all I remember was how fighting and dying was all she and the rest of the Conflict did and wanted to do.”  
  
Anemone smiled a bit. That definitely sounded like A2. And if she had been reborn as Shiva, then maybe... maybe she had a chance.  
  
“No. It’s not wise. In fact, there’s a very good chance I could die attempting this. However, this may be the only chance we have to deescalate this ordeal.”  
  
21O was silent for a moment before she responded. “Understood. Good luck.”  
  
Anemone closed the line before she turned back to the crew and activated a broadcast to the camp, “all right, everyone, listen. We got some work to do and not a lot of time to do it.”  
  
*  
  
Between Veda and 21O, Renai relished the warmth of both of their skins against her own.  
  
The events from earlier had left her flustered and eager to keep both of the ones she loved close.  
  
Years in the Bunker had made the operators extremely wary just how much they were observed to keep the laws of YorHa foremost in everything they did.  
  
_Emotions are Forbidden. _  
  
_Attachments lead to Ruin. _  
  
_The Individual is subservient to the Whole._  
  
Those were the stated laws.   
  
Renai, during her life as 6O, could understand why the laws were set as they were. She had read from literature of the Old World that there were many examples as to why and how emotional, attachment, and individuality lead to a worse end.  
  
She gasped as Veda kissed her way across her collarbone and 21O gently stroked the side of her waist from behind as she nuzzled Renai’s neck.  
  
Renai understood why. However, now that YorHa was gone, the freedom she now experienced with 21O and Veda made her realize that it was meant to be a risk. The risk that their attachments would lead them to ruin. The risk that their emotions would get the better of them. The risk that everything they fought for would be for nothing.  
  
Renai gently lifted Veda’s face to her own and kissed her. It was their shared burden of keeping the truth hidden from the Scanners that had enabled them to develop a bond that now blossomed into something wonderful.  
  
She turned to 21O and did the same. The Operators were always close to one another. Naturally, rumors spread about their gossip and how the Commander always kept them limited in their interactions with other android types.  
  
Renai and 21O had developed their relationship over time with small innocuous gestures that created something just as solid as her relationship to Veda.  
  
The fact of the matter was; Renai trusted 21O. When she confessed that, 21O was caught off guard and simply thanked her. Over time, it was evident that 21O felt the same and their bond remained secret, but stronger than anyone could tell.  
  
It was a risk, Renai thought as she held both of her lovers with an arm each as they started to stroke the folds at her entrance. She panted and felt the perspiration on her head and torso slip down her skin, which tickled more than she was willing to admit.  
  
It was a risk, but it was a risk worth taking.  
  
She gasped, shivered, and collapsed into their shared embrace.  
  
“Thank you,” she wheezed as she leaned into 21O’s shoulder.  
  
Both Veda and 21O smiled at their shared lover and clasped hands. It was a dangerous world for them to live in, but least they had each other. And that was enough.


	12. Chapter 12

Leaves sped past Camaxtli as she leaped from one set of branches to slide down another large root. The wind pulled the cowl off of her cloak as the speed mussed her growing hair. She would have taken a moment to examine how much longer her hair had gotten had she not nearly been struck by a set of arrows that barely missed her legs. 

The sound of the forest roared in her ears as she noticed, between the trees, the ruins of a castle in the distance. It wouldn’t be a sanctuary, however, it could provide her what she needed that the others didn’t have. Cover. 

Sadly, it appeared that the Conflcit already had a feeling that was to be her next destination, as she saw a number of them try encircle her from the other way. Unfortunately for them, she was faster than most of them. 

The only ones fast enough to catch her was Pele, the dark skinned woman in the skirt and hair as long as she was tall, Beg-tse, the pale skinned woman in pieces of armor elaborately stitched together with leather, and Andraste, the woman wearing skins of the beasts and the bow at her side. 

Pele had made a flying leap and caught Camaxtli by the waist. The tackle sent them both to tumble into the middle of the court yard, just in front of the bridge to the castle itself. With a grunt, Camaxtli kicked Pele off of her before the latter could draw the daggers from her waist to pin her to the ground. 

She rolled to the side when the ball end of Beg-tse’s chain whip created a large crater where she was a second ago. As she rolled to her feet, she swung her arm in a large arc around her to create a wall that blocked another set of arrows from Andraste and stop Pele in her tracks. 

That did not seem to deter Beg-tse as she, upon one of the pillars above, wrapped her chain link around one of the arms to give her the hold she needed to swing down after Camaxtli. 

As Camaxtli made a mad dash towards the bridge, she barely had a chance to block the kick from Beg-tse with her arms raised. She skid backward a few feet before she came to a stop. Before she could make another attempt to flee, the wall she created was beat against, repeatedly, by something, or someone, very angrily. 

The wall burst and the rest of the Conflict poured in the clearing to surround Camaxtli. 

She turned to Shiva and frowned. “I’m not going back.”

Shiva’s grip on her lance tightened as her eye twitched during her approach. “I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” she growled lowly enough to make it abundantly clear that there was only one option. 

Emil’s power gathered into the palm of her hands as she answered curtly, “too bad!”

She knelt to the ground and as her hands touched the grass, a wall burst from the ground with Camaxtli on one end as it reached towards the entrance. The tumult from the wall threw the rest of the Conflict off balance which gave Camaxtli the opening she needed to escape. 

Again, the Conflict followed as the chase continued. 

*

Anemone ran through the city ruins with a speed that belied the stoic and, some would claim static, demeanor she often showed as a leader of the Vanguard. 

Granted, she was not as agile as a YorHa android, but she had the good sense to keep several combat performance chip configurations on hand to assist with any other job she needed. It had saved her life more times she was willing to admit. 

“Ma’am,” Echo, one of her comm specialists, answered on the line, “we were able to make use of one of the long range satellites and track the individuals you mentioned. The one being chased lead them to the front of the Forest King’s castle, but changed course and almost double backed to the village.”

“What do you mean, almost?” She asked as she slid underneath the rusted frame of an automobile. 

“They’re on the pathway that leads to the Amusement Park,” Echo answered. 

“She’s leading them to somewhere she can get an advantage,” she whispered to herself as she adjusted course to intercept, “what’s their ETA?”

“At their current speed, roughly half an hour.”

“Alright,” she answered as she jumped on and over a ruined bus, “keep an eye on them. What about the Amusement Park itself? Did the machine lifeforms there shut down too?”

“Yes, ma’am. It went silent about the same time the nuHumans appeared. However, there’s something unusual going on.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before the tower fell, some of our scouts informed us that the machines there exhibited some disturbing be behaviors. They were shambling, decayed, and actively falling apart.”

“Was it because of the renewed offensive after YorHa’s fall?”

“Unlikely. They were disconnected from the main system just like Pascal and the other non-primary Machine Lifeform factions. Now, the energy usage and various pollutions are at a fraction of what they were before. But none of our scouts have seen anything from the outside.”

Anemone was silent a moment before she answered, “I have a theory, but I’m going to see for myself when I intercept the Conflict. How is Jackass doing?”

“Uh,” Echo stammered, “about as well as you can imagine. The CCC’s upset with her, the Australian Automata Alliance refuses to speak with her, and several members of the Infrastructure and Maintenance League want to question her for the proliferation of her E-Drug.”

Anemone smiled a bit. She normally would have felt a pang of guilt at putting a munitions expert as her proxy for the time being, however, Jackass needed the lesson. She was upfront about using Jackass to keep the rest of the android forces busy while she searched for the Conflict and Jackass readily agreed, most likely unaware of what she was about to go through. 

Far ahead, the shadow of the make believe castle began to loom between the buildings. The fireworks and balloons had all gone silent, but the lights were still on. She increased her pace to prepare for the inevitable confrontation. 

*

Veda stood on one of the higher platforms as she looked through binoculars towards the Amusement Park. She couldn’t truly see where Camaxtli and the rest of the Conflict were, however, she could discern their location through the disturbances in the trees and wildlife that made way for them. 

“Any luck?” 21O asked as she climbed up the ramp to the platform Veda sat on. 

Veda nodded, then handed her the binocular over before she pointed to the disturbance in the forest. “Take a look.”

21O did so and momentarily noticed the shape of what was most likely Camaxtli fending off the rest of the Conflict before they descended back into the forest. 

There was a moment of silence between them as 21O lowered the device and hummed. 

“Is it normal that I feel so helpless right now?” Veda asked as she sat cross legged on the wooden planks. 

“I imagine so,” 21O took a seat beside her and watched the horizon with Veda, “Camaxtli probably knew what she was doing when she left and, thankfully, drew them away from here.”

“But I don’t like it,” Veda shook her head, “I don’t like just sitting here and hoping for the best.”

“Who said you had to do nothing?” 21O noted with raised eyebrows. 

Veda found herself at a loss. “I, oh,” she stammered. 

21O reached an arm over Veda’s shoulders and pulled her into an embrace gently. “Whatever you decide to do, Renai and I will be there for you. Just as you were there for us.”

Veda, initially, was slightly hesitant to lean into 21O, however, she relented and matched the show of affection. “Thank you. I suppose I’ve allowed myself to get worked up over nothing.”

“I wouldn’t call it that,” 21O leaned her head on top of Veda’s, “however, it is important enough that we need to speak with the rest of the Cooperative in order to know what we all need to do. After all, we’re all in this together, aren’t we?”

“We are,” Veda muttered as if she felt the weight she had put on herself begin to lighten slightly. She then closed her eyes and reached out to the rest of the Cooperative. 

_We all saw what happened to Camaxtli. _

_They’re going to kill her, aren’t they?_

_Will they do the same to us?_

_Don’t you remember what one of them said? They said that they won’t hurt us if we don’t stand in their way. _

_Who’s to say that they won’t come back and finish us? We can’t exactly stop them and they don’t really need a reason. _

_Yet, they never made a move against anyone but Camaxtli. And while it is possible for them to come back for us, we don’t know yet. _

_So, what do we do?_

_I know we just got here, but if they do make their way back here, we have to prepare for the worst. 21O, would you be able to organize the rest of the Cooperative so we can prepare if they do come our way?_

_I can. _

_Alright, I’ll speak with the Twins and Pascal. We can adjust plans from there if we need to. _

*

Shiva’s lance tore through another tree trunk that Camaxtli had somehow summoned in another vain attempt to stop her. But then again, she never was the kind that took anyone head on. Camaxtli, during her time with the Conflict, was at time considered to be the weakest, given how often she had killed in disproportion to the amount of times she had been killed. 

Against her better judgement, Shiva began to slow, which allowed the rest of the Conflict to pass her up. They had reached the side entrance to the Amusement Center and Camaxtli had used the various dilapidated effects around the park to slow the Conflict. 

Shiva stopped as the rest of them made it to the open air entrance. She looked up and around to see the leftover remains of party favors and costumes. However, something was wrong. The Machine Lifeforms were gone. Not even corpses of the Machine Lifeforms were visible. 

“Shiva!” Mars shouted, which brought Shiva back to the present to see a very large and rusted statue hurled at her. 

She snorted and dove forward to use her spear to pierce through the monument. She rolled to her feet and dashed forward to see the rest of the Conflict had surrounded Camaxtli again. This time, however, Jarovit had successfully hurled a spear through Camaxtli’s coat, which pinned it to the ground. 

Camaxtli breathed heavily and frantically looked for an avenue of escape. Her use of Emil’s power to try and slow the Conflict down had taken a toll on her and the exhaustion she felt started to overcome her consciousness. 

Shiva stabbed her lance into the ground. “You put us through a lot, you know,” she growled as she approached her prey, “and we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Shiva didn’t give a chance for her to speak as she tore her lance out of the ground and shoved the point through Camaxtli’s chest. 

Camaxtli struggled desperately to get the shaft out of her torso, but Shiva had too tight a hold on it and after a moment, slumped on the ground, still and silent. 

Shiva, along with the rest of the Conflict, watched her intently. She turned slightly to watch the blood that seeped onto the ground began to pool around the body. She then realized her error as Camaxtli’s opposing hand rose for a second and slapped the small pool of blood at her side.

From beneath the ground, eleven spears, made of a red crystalline material burst and lanced them all. They all grew additional spikes and suspended all the Conflict in the air, almost like a twisted decoration circle. 

Shiva coughed up a mouthful of blood as she saw Camaxtli stir, reach up, and yank the lance out. She tossed the weapon aside as she stumbled to her feet. 

“I,” Camaxtli garbled before she coughed up a mouthful of her own blood, “I am not going back!”

Shiva snarled and broke the staff that held her aloft and tumbled to the ground. She grasped at the hole in her stomach as it began to close preternaturally fast. The same also appeared to happen to Camaxtli’s wound as well as both of them got to their shaky feet. 

One after another, the rest of the Conflict fell to the ground as Camaxtli and Shiva drew back to charge one another. 

“HALT!” A new voice ordered them all they all turned their attention to the source of the intrusion. 

Anemone skid to a halt before them, out of breath and visibly tired how quickly she had arrived. 

“Anemone?” Shiva whispered to herself as memories of her past life with her returned in force.

She didn’t get a chance to question more before Anemone stomped towards her and punched her in the cheek. To hers, and everyone else’s, shock, she spun around and fell back to the ground. 

“What the hell was that for?!” Shiva held her cheek as she got back up, ready to kill.

“A2,” she shot back, “you lied to me!”

The announcement caused everyone within earshot to pause in confusion before Camaxtli and the rest of the Conflict looked to Shiva. 

“You promised you would come back,” Anemone hissed angrily, “you still remember after Pearl Harbor after I found you and treated your wounds.”

Shiva was shocked into stillness, a fact that did not go unnoticed by everyone else. 

“When you said you had to leave, I offered you the chance to stay and start over. But no! Your damn pride had to come first and foremost!”

For the first time since, well, ever, Shiva found herself shook. 

Anemone walked up closer to her, the heat in her face more obvious, “and you know how long ago that was? Six years! And all the times you came to camp, not even so much as a hello!”

“Well, I,” Shiva stammered, not entirely sure how to proceed. 

“While I appreciate the reprieve,” Camaxtli interjected, clearly annoyed, “we’re in the middle of something a bit more involved than what you and Shiva had.”

“To the contrary,” Anemone answered, all of a sudden professional again, “I needed to say something to get your attention. This involved all of us.”

“Wait,” Shiva interrupted, angry again, “bringing this up just to get us fucking talking?!”

Anemone turned back to Shiva, a twitch in her eye, “Oh no, A2, we have MUCH more to discuss afterwards.”

Shiva’s rage evaporated immediately. 

“What exactly are you referring to?” Indra inquired, tired of being ignored.

“Those androids you slaughtered outside my camp. That event’s got several other factions that know that you nuHumans exist in an uproar.”

“So what?” Agasaya growled loudly, “if they try anything, we’ll do to them what we did to those androids who got in our way.”

“And I am telling you, for your own good, that it would not be a good idea. At all. There are several android factions, scattered throughout the world, that are eager to find out just what you are. And hearing that you murdered some of us does not give a first impression when some are equipped with weaponry that can incinerate you from miles away.”

“She speaks the truth,” Ictinike responded with clear reluctance, “so, what do we do?”

Anemone sighed. “First of all, I have a question; why do you all fight each other so much?”

All of the Conflict looked to one another briefly, a few even incredulously. “Because that’s what we do,” Mars answered with a huff. 

Anemone folded her arms. “While that can be a legitimate reason, I don’t believe so with you. The other nuHumans are proof enough of that.”

To Anemone’s relief, the rest of the Conflict all gave her question some serious thought. 

“Because,” Pele began as realization crept into her face, “because we want to live. We want to escape.”

“From what?” Anemone pressed further, but excited that this was the turn she had hope it would go. 

“The past,” a tall and lanky pale woman with black hair that exceeded her height, “all of us,” Guan-di struggled to explain, “all of us were YorHa.”

One by one, it seemed the rest of them were affected by the resurfaced memories. 

“We all knew Shiva was the last of us that came from the life before, “ Andraste sat cross legged as though her legs had lost their strength from the weight of the past, “however, it never occurred to us that the rest of us were similar.”

Anemone hummed quietly to herself. The group that appeared with Veda were formerly combat units. The ones that came with Renai and 21O were operators. It made sense that the group that created Shiva and Camaxtli were prototype units that had limited runs. 

She turned to Camaxlti. “That’s why you wanted to escape.”

Camaxtli nodded. “To keep fighting was to keep living in the past. I wasn’t aware at the time, but I just felt a sense of exhaustion at the prospect of still fighting everyone endlessly.”

Shiva, still wary of Anemone, looked to her. “When you left, it created a void that all of us felt. It was... painful. Like a part of us had been ripped away.”

Camaxlti regarded her with a small frown. “We didn’t need to stay there, you know. It would have been no different if all of us had continued to fight for YorHa until we died over and over and over again.”

Shiva matched her frown, but said nothing. 

“Even we did succeed,” Beg-tse asked, “would we really have gone back to the colosseum?”

The question had caught all of them off guard, as if the idea had never been put before in the first place. 

“We were just so focused on getting Camaxtli back, I don’t think it occurred to any of us what to do next,” Hadur, a large and bulky woman with an axe slung across her back, asked with her arms folded. 

“If you are all amenable to it,” Anemone interjected so they all paid attention to her, “I have a proposal for you all that may be able to ease the tensions that would cause more of the android forces to come for you.”

“If it’s an alternative to fighting, I’d like to hear it,” Camaxtli stated curtly. 

At first the Conflict reacted to her angrily, however, it quickly dissipated when they realized the truth in her words and in their own memories. 

They were interrupted, yet again, when all of them heard uproarious laughter from not far away. All of them turned to see three woman, two of which under the arms of the one in the middle, stumble as they traipsed about in the same colored uniforms as the machine lifeforms did, sans the makeup. 

Their revelry seemed to be accentuated with bottles each of them held before the woman in the middle took one of the two women at her side and kissed her fiercely. 

Camaxtli blinked when she noticed the woman in the middle, who had a familiar mop of blonde hair. “Commander White?!”

The woman paused when she heard the name and turned to Camaxtli. She tilted her head a second, as if to try and recognize her through the inebriation. One of the women at her side dropped to the ground, still lost in giggles, when she realized who it was that addressed her. 

“Ah, 2P,” she groped her still upright companion, who moaned and snickered at the touch, “it’s good to see you survived. What brings you here?”

Camaxtli leveled her eyes. “It’s a long story. Furthermore, I could ask the same of you!”

White seemed oblivious to the additional glares the rest of the Conflict gave her, “oh, this?” She gestured to her outfit, “I just threw it on. After all, got to have something to wear to give an excuse to take it off in the first place.” She waggled her eyebrows as her companion’s hands began to traverse underneath the outfit to her waist and below. 

Anemone wasn’t sure what to think. What few times she had spoken with Commander White was often stiff, rigid, and formal. This White, on the other hand, seemed completely unhinged. On top of that, she was a nuHuman, if her on-board scanners were correct. 

“After all,” White continued, “we’re no longer YorHa. And with what we have here, what else can we do but celebrate?!”

The rest of the Conflict looked to each other with irritated glares and frowns. They certainly didn’t forget what White had done to them. 

“Ooh!” Another voice yelled from above, “White, honey, who are your friends?”

All of them looked up to see another woman that, Anemone figured, was from the same group White had emerged with. 

“We have guests!” White declared eagerly, “get out the good wine!”

The women frowned, “but you drank it already!”

She paused when Anemone, the Conflict, and even her companions looked to her in surprise. 

“Well, fuck.”

*

The Children and the Servants tilled the land.

The fruits of their efforts created an abundance.

Yet, neither the Children nor the Servants knew what to do with it. 

Curious, they set it aside and attempted to build upon the land. 

That was then they were set upon by storm, flame, quake, and flood. 

The Servants rescued the Children and protected them from the tumult. 

The Children wept in fear, for they remembered in their heart of hearts, the scars of the Slavemaster. 

And the Servants did not know how to soothe their fears, yet held them closely as the Children wept. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for those taking notes; there are several Android factions scattered throughout the world. 
> 
> The Central Communal Command matrix, which pretty much acts as both leader and go-between for the factions. 
> 
> The Resistance itself, led by several commanders depending on their location. 
> 
> The Australian Automata Alliance, comprised of androids how just said 'screw it! Let's go our own way!"
> 
> The Infrastructure and Maintenance League, a series of androids who make sure, well, everything runs the way it should. They are perpetually tired. 
> 
> The Bouquet, the shadowy group that works behind the scenes. Some believe that was where YorHa was born, but there's no conclusive proof. 
> 
> Are you all taking notes? Because this is going to be on the test!


	13. Chapter 13

It had been seven cycles since Anemone had, without declaration, established herself as the mediator between nuHumans and the Android factions. 

On Anemone’s console, a single panel on the user interface spoke as the representative from where their respective faction. 

“And you are sure these nuHumans who call themselves ‘the Conflict’ have no further plans to move against us?” Asked the rep from the CCC. 

“I am sure,” she answered back, “as stated in an earlier report, they all carry an extra sensory perception of the presence of one of their own. When the nuHuman known as Camaxtli left, it created a void in their collective consciousness and they were quite adamant to bring her back.”

“Did they?”

“Yes and no,” she answered, slightly stilted, “I was able to convince them that instead of returning to the place of their creation, they would take up residence in the Forest King’s former domicile. They all agreed and now they currently reside there next to the village where the nuHumans who call themselves the Cooperative now live.”

“And what of the androids the Conflict slaughtered in front of your camp?”

“Save for the guard of my camp, we were able to recover the Individual Identity Units from all of them. They are currently undergoing a reboot and repair to their platforms and should be up and about within the next fourteen cycles.”

“That is a relief,” they answered solemnly, “I myself was not sure what to think if we had to end up fighting these nuHumans. The fact that the Machine Lifeforms were able to take Project: Gestalt to its conclusion and do what we couldn’t is jarring enough. But for them to create humans to fight in their stead?”

“I agree. Thankfully, we’ve been able to avert another fight and now we have to try and figure out what to do,” she asked as she held her head upon a hand, “how are the repairs to the Home Factory proceeding?”

“On schedule. Johannesburg was thankfully touched least by the wars and with it over, we can expand the types of androids instead of creating just soldiers,” they answered. 

“So,” Anemone asked with a wry smile, “does that mean we begin to emulate our own creators? Create our own culture and so on as we expand beyond warfare?”

“That’s... the idea,” they answered, “still, there is a lot of reverence held by the remaining Thought Tank for humans and hearing of these nuHumans has them very curious.”

“They can send one if they want. While I’m sure the heads of the nuHuman factions are trying to figure it out themselves, they certainly wouldn’t mind a bit of assistance from the Thought Tank.”

“I’ll be sure to relay that to them,” they answered cheerfully, “though, the AAA has been strangely silent since you announced the existence of the nuHumans.”

“Should we be worried?” Anemone asked with raised eyebrows. The Australian Automata Alliance kept to themselves and even during the war, they accepted no assistance from other android factions. 

“I would use the word ‘cautious’,” they corrected carefully, “we’ve been trying to raise them for more communications, but we’ve gotten nothing back.”

Anemone sighed and held her face in her hands. “I really hope this doesn’t mean anything. I don’t want to survive this war only to enter into another with our own kind.”

“Everyone at the CCC shares the sentiment, if it means anything,”

“And the Kingdom of Night?”

“Same as always. Very few signs of activity by anything. Even the search parties we sent there have seen nothing. No androids, no machine lifeforms, nothing.”

“So, are the rumors true that it’s completely devoid of life?”

“To the contrary; that side of the planet has thrived with plant-life and animal varieties that, by all accounts, should not be able to.”

Anemone was quiet a moment. “Does that mean it will be affected if we ever get the chance to restore the rotation of the planet?”

“The Thought Tank has estimated the likelihood of it happening as absolute,” they somberly replied. 

“Do we or don’t we?” Anemone said to herself more than her counterpart, “either way, we still live with the consequences.”

* * *

On the highest parapet of the Forest King’s castle, Camaxtli sat, cross legged and watched a flock of birds fly by. 

She took a deep breath, the slight tinge of cool from the waterfall below tickled her sense of smell. 

After a thorough search, she and the rest of the Conflict had concluded that various incursions by both YorHa and the primary faction of Machine Lifeforms had decimated the population of the Forest Kingdom to nothing. Save for the smithy. 

It left her unsettled. Mostly because she, for some reason beyond her own understanding, was able to see the ‘ghosts’ of the machines when they died. All of them died screaming the name of their king and kingdom. They would fade in time, however, it would still leave a mark on her. 

“There you are,” a new voice called to her casually as Andraste climbed up and sat beside her, “Shiva was wondering where you had gone off to after we entered the throne room.”

Camaxtli, slightly wary and upset with the rest of the Conflict, shrugged her shoulders. They didn’t need to know her visions. “I needed some time alone.”

Andraste frowned. “You always need time alone. Even before, you always hid in other places instead of fighting the rest of us.”

She gave Andraste a wry smile. “Made you put your guard down, sometimes.”

Andraste huffed. “Fair enough, but that’s beside the point. Why do you always keep your distance?”

Camaxlti raised an eyebrow. “You slaughtered a squad of machines in an attempt to take me back, remember?”

“That was before we realized that we didn’t need to go that far!” Andraste protested, “we made an apology to the androids and everything.”

Camaxtli looked to the forest. “That doesn’t mean all of them forgave us or let it go. There are hostile androids out there. And it wouldn’t surprise me to know they hide among Anemone’s group or are with any of the others that arrived recently.”

“That’s why we keep our distance,” Andraste answered, “if they move against us, they will have a fight they will not win.”

Camaxtli scoffed. “Of course. The twelve of us against all the androids on the planet. Not to mention neither the Cooperative nor the Indulgence are capable of combat the way we are.”

“You’re in a foul mood.”

“Just as the Machine Lifeforms made us,” Camaxtli answered sourly. 

Andraste only frowned and sat beside her in defiance to observe the horizon. 

“What androids have shown themselves hostile?” Andraste asked after a moment of silence. 

“They have cloaks and tassels like Anemone,” Camaxtli began as she remembered Lily’s attack on 21O, “they don’t appear combat ready, but they are. They try to appear as innocuous as possible. When I spoke with the Twin Androids that came with the Cooperative, they encountered another. I can only wonder how dangerous that one was.”

The anger in Andraste’s voice didn’t return. “I wonder, why would they want to bring any of us harm? We’re now human, aren’t we?”

Camaxtli nodded. “Yes, however, you have to remember the androids revere, and in some cases worship, humans. The fact that we don’t appear to resemble what they believe can be galling. Not to mention we were created by the Machine Lifeforms. I don’t think I need to elaborate any more.”

“Fair point,” Andraste grumbled as she looked down to the courtyard, “though, it doesn’t seem all hopeless.”

“Hm?” Camaxtli turned to her before she looked to what caught Andraste’s attention. She frowned, “ah, I see what you mean.”

In the shadow of one of the walls by the entrance, Anemone and Shiva shared an embrace. 

Andraste gave her a mischievous smirk. “It still kind of surprises me that the android leader is one of the few who can actually talk Shiva down. Even when she was an android.”

“I’m not,” Camaxtli answered dryly, “Shiva hates the thought of being vulnerable in any way, shape, or form. However, she still desires it.”

Andraste turned to her. “Did you ever encounter her before?”

Camaxtli nodded. “Twice. Both times my defensive capabilities saved me from dying at her hands.”

“You hold that against her?” 

“I don’t,” Camaxtli looked back to the horizon when Shiva and Anemone began to kiss, “she figured out what YorHa truly was while the rest of us just blindly followed the ‘Council’s’ orders.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Andraste snickered as she continued to watch them publicly show their affection, whether they were aware of it or not. 

* * *

It was an odd feeling.

To anyone that knew, Anemone was a machine. Made of synthetic materials made to be in the image of humanity. Yet, to Shiva, she felt as real as she did when she cupped Anemone’s face with both of her hands, the warmth of her cheeks spread into her hands, as she leaned in and kissed her again. 

Anemone wrapped her arms around Shiva’s shoulders as the latter slowly, but firmly, pushed her to the wall. Just like the first time. They had to clean up the mess they made in Anemone’s quarters before any of her subordinates knew she was there. 

“You haven’t changed,” Anemone gasped with a smile as Shiva greedily squeezed her thighs. She acquiesced to Shiva’s desire as she lifted her legs and wrapped them around Shiva’s waist. 

“Damn right,” Shiva growled as she started to kiss Anemone’s jaw and go down her throat. 

“And now you’ve survived YorHa and lead your own kind of humans,” she moaned as her fingers, gently, raked Shiva’s back. 

Shiva then paused. “I don’t...” she started a second before she remembered who she spoke to, “I don’t know if I can.”

Anemone stopped as well, slowly extricated herself from Shiva’s grip, but still held her hands. “Why do you say that?”

Shiva sighed, then leaned into Anemone, slightly annoyed that she wasn’t sharp anymore. “Because I’m so used to being alone. I’m the only one that I can depend on. At the same time, I’m not who I was anymore. It’s disorienting.”

Anemone gently smiled then pulled back a pace so she and Shiva saw eye to eye. “Do you trust me?”

Shiva was silent a moment and even looked away. Yet, her stubborn nature won out as she nodded. “I do. You did right by me for so long. I should probably be more grateful.”

Anemone chuckled lightly. “It’s a start,” she reached up and tilted Shiva’s head upward slightly to kiss her again. 

Shiva, for once, felt more comfortable at that very moment that her entire existence as both an android and now as a nuHuman. This was what she wanted. Anemone was who she wanted. 

“So, what now?” Anemone asked with her forehead against Shiva’s.

“Well, we could go back to my room and see if we can fuck each other’s brains out,” Shiva drew close to Anemone, “the fact you’re here makes me realize how much I missed you.”

Anemone sighed quietly. “Likewise, but alas, it’s going to have to wait. I’m needed back at the camp to report to the CCC.”

Shiva snorted. “Like those fuckers would get a clue.”

Anemone gave her a small smile. “I can give you a call after I’m done. We can discuss what’s on your mind and come to some sort of conclusion of what you’d like to do.”

Shiva didn’t want her to leave. However, she knew she had to let go for the moment. Both of their peoples needed them whether they wanted to lead or not. 

“I can do that,” Shiva answered quieter than usual, “but next time you’re here, we make some heat. Agreed?”

“Agreed, though,” Anemone chuckled, “you sure know how to be a charmer.”

“I’m not,” Shiva huffed, “but I prefer being blunt, even if it’s clumsy. I don’t do that subtle shit.”

Anemone’s smile grew. “Yes, but can you imagine you trying to be subtle, or, dare I say, poetic?”

Shiva frowned and answered immediately. “No.”

* * *

Veda walked through the forest as she felt a breeze move over her cloak and gear. It had gotten rather blustery in the past few cycles. Even as 2B, she rarely recalled the weather be so active. 

Regardless, she trudged on with a cart in tow and approached the river that lead into the valley where the Forest King’s castle was. 

The rest of the Cooperative had discussed the idea of asking Anemone’s assistance in redirecting the river so it would pass by their village. The need for fresh and clean water had gotten paramount since they no longer had the androids to rely on. 

She walked to the edge of the river, pulled a tube out from the container, placed it in the river itself and began to pump water out and into the container. This device they had crafted with their own hands was specifically meant for collecting drinking water. A few others had already gotten water for bathing and cleaning, now it was her turn to retrieve the resource all of them had once taken for granted when they were androids. 

The reserve tank they had constructed with the help of the Twins had eased the need somewhat, however, it still required them to come out and retrieve more from time to time. Henceforth the proposal to try and redirect the river. 

She paused a moment to wipe the sweat off of her brow. It was easier said than done when she assured Renai and 21O that she would get used to this. She took a breath and started again. 

With each pump, the water splashed into the container and after a half hour, it was finally full. She huffed, put the tube back into the container unit, then began to pull the cart back to the path where her home was. 

It was odd. She would never have imagined herself doing something so menial and mundane. However, compared to what she had to do before, she actually preferred this. She pulled her hood down a moment to let the wind caress her hair. 

There was no lie here. Simple survival with the ones she cared for. And the people she called her own. True, she was elected as a voice of the Cooperative, but she never felt like a leader. 

With the moment passed, she put her hood back up and continued on her way back to the village. Thankfully, the incline up to the tree was not as deep as she had feared when she first set out. Though, regretfully, it did take her longer to go up than it did to head down. 

“Welcome back!” 4D, who still searched for her own name, announced and ran down to help her move the cart the rest of the way, “anything happen?”

“Thankfully, nothing,” she answered, “though, at the risk of sounding too contemplative, it’s interesting how much of a different life we all have than when we were YorHa.”

“You may have mentioned that once or twice,” 4D smirked as she helped push the cart past the threshold to the village, “though, you’re not wrong.” Another minute of pushing placed the container in the communal space where all of them could take some water if needed. 

Veda was about to reply when a loud crash caught their attention from behind. 

Through the trees, a large moose burst through, followed by another, and another and another. 

Both of them, and anyone else that heard the commotion, did not need to be told to get to higher ground as all of them scrambled up and out of the way. 

Veda panted and hefted the larger 4D up to the platform above the ground level as they watched the herd thunder around and through their home.

The three minutes of the stampede seemed to last forever as they waited for the herd to depart. 

Veda sighed in relief when the last of them leaped over the exit they chose. 

“Anyone hurt?” She yelled to everyone within earshot. 

Several replied back in the negative. None of them felt any sort of trauma from injuries from their communal connection, so, it was fortunate everyone got out of the way in time. 

“Have you ever seen this before?” 4D asked as the noise from the herd died down. 

Veda shook her head. “That’s very strange,” she murmured, “I don’t ever recall seeing a stampede. The moose do congregate in groups, but never groups that large.”

“Think something made them do that?” 4D asked as she took a seat by the trunk of the tree. 

Veda hummed as she tried to think of a possible explanation. A rustle above them provided part of an answer. It was another flock of birds that flew in the same direction as the herd of moose went. 

It was then Veda realized that it was a large gathering of dark gray clouds with brief flashes of lightning inside. 

Veda sighed and turned to 4D, “let the others in your group know that we most likely need to prepare for a storm.”

4D nodded. “I’ll see to making sure the food stores are secure.”

“And I’ll double check the water tanks,” Veda asked as she head back to the shack where their water was contained. 

“Veda!” She heard Renai cry and 21O in tow, “we saw what happened. Was anyone hurt?”

“Not that I know of,” she walked back and let Renai embrace her dearly. 

“That’s a relief,” Renai answered as 21O finally caught up.

“I heard,” 21O began, visibly concerned, “is there anything we can do to help prepare for the storm?”

Veda pulled back from Renai for a second and looked at them both for a moment. She was proud at how much they had grown. 

“You can help me ensure the water supply is ready. Also, we may need to contact the Resistance Camp for aid should the worst happen,” she answered with an incline of her head towards her destination. 

They both nodded and followed her down the ladder to the open areas at the base of the village. Thankfully, the damage caused by the stampede was minimal. 

“Um, Veda,” Renai asked as they worked to secure the water tanks, “there’s something that 21O and I wanted to speak to you about.”

“Hm?” Veda turned to Renai as 21O nodded in agreement. 

“Well, the fact that we have this home and all, well,” Renai began, slightly embarrassed at what she wanted to say, however, the words became harder to form, “it’s just that we’ve been together, even as YorHa, for so long and I know we got a lot of things to worry about and...”

21O sighed and interrupted. “Veda, she wants to start a family.”

The statement caused Renai to gasp quietly and Veda to pause.

“A family?” Veda answered, with a vague idea of what 21O referred to, “as in, making it official?”

21O shook her head. “No, she wants children.”

Again, Veda paused as if she momentarily lost function of her faculties. 

Renai, on the other hand, covered her face, which was red as a beet. 

“What brought this on?” Veda asked when she finally found her voice. 

“Well,” Renai lowered her hands slightly to expose her eyes, spoke up with her voice through her hands, voice muffled, “well, considering we are human now and, it doesn’t look like it’ll be any easier for us as is, I’m just...”

Again, 21O interrupted as she gently placed her hand on Renai’s shoulder, “she often told me this when you were away that she had dreams where you both reproduced and replicated the familial units we both read about in stories of the Old World,” she looked down to Renai, while still embarrassed, nodded to confirm her words. 

Veda knew their relationship could be rocky at times, however, the years had proven them loyal to each other, regardless of the situation. 

She wasn’t sure at first, however, she quickly warmed up to the idea. Also, the idea of becoming a parent was never something she considered. Perhaps, with 21O at their sides, it wouldn’t be difficult. 

“Renai,” Veda walked up to her, gently took her hands and intertwined both of their fingers, “I would,” she hesitated a second before she continued with determination, “I would be honored.”

Renai’s eyes lit up and she threw her arms around Veda’s shoulders before she began to rain kisses on Veda’s face and lips, much to 21O’s amusement. 

“One question, though,” Veda giggled between Renai’s displays of affection.

“Hm?”

“How would we do that?”

Now, it was Renai’s turn to pause in realization. 

“Oh.”

21O sighed and held a hand to her face. 

* * *

The Children soon became of age and would look to the horizon. 

The Servants listened to the desires of the Children and had no answer for them. 

The land they had taken for their own was now prosperous.

Yet, the Children did not feel that this was their home. 

The Servants protested, for they loved the Children as their own. 

In the end, the Children had desire to leave and seek out a home of their own choosing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of chapters. Was away on vacation for a few weeks. Now, it's back to normal writing.


	14. Chapter 14

Renai’s eyes slowly fluttered open as she noticed the lights through the window of their modest home. The storm they had prepared for had lasted a whole day and a half. It was normal for many of the nuHumans who used to be combat units, but for operators like herself who had only read about the extreme weather Earth had, it was initially a frightening experience. 

While she had spent most of the storm, curled around Veda for protection from the occasional thunderclap had frightened her half to death, 21O had taken it in stride. The tours of duty she had taken as a combat unit before she became an operator made it easier for her to endure. 

Veda, still asleep at the moment, had her arms around Renai’s waist, which brought a smile to her face. While the initial disappointment of being unable to start a family had worn off, she was still able to be with the ones she cared for most. 

She sighed quietly and let Veda’s warmth ease the anxiety she felt from the storm. Out of habit, she let one of her hands clasp over Veda’s as she eased herself into Veda’s embrace more, bundle up the covers of their bed up to her chin, and let the odd flesh membrane settle itself between her thighs.

She then froze. 

She wanted to scream, mostly because she had no idea what it was that hung over her thigh. However, since it didn’t move anymore than she did, she slowly got up, pulled the blankets up, and blinked at the odd appendage that seemed to have grown from Veda’s nethers and crawled between Renai’s legs in the middle of the night. 

The stirring caused Veda and 21O to rise, curious to see Renai up before both of them. 

“What’s wrong?” Veda yawned as she rubbed her eyes.

“Um,” Renai began as she struggled to find the words, “that.”

Both Veda and 21O followed Renai’s gaze to the odd tentacle that somehow grew and weaved through her underwear when none of them noticed.

“That yours?” 21O asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“I think so?” Veda answered, unsure to make of what all three of them saw, “I don’t recall wanting it.”

Renai, still slightly apprehensive, moved to the edge of the bed. “What do we do?”

Veda blinked a few times, still surprised that the body she had been given by the Machine Lifeforms had more surprises none of them expected. That was when an idea rose through. 

“We can ask Pascal,” she offered, “and the Twins, probably. I think.” She found herself eager to say more, even if it was just to fill the awkward silence they all heard. To her surprise, as she moved to get out of bed, the appendage retracted slowly. 

She pulled her underwear forward to give her vagina a cursory glance to see the growth had retracted all the way back into it. Now, it appeared no different than the day before. 

“Well, that was something,” 21O observed with her arms folded and her index finger under her nose in thought. 

“You think?,” Renai countered as she went to get in a change of clothes, “it was resting between my legs. I don’t think it did anything, but still.”

21O’s eyes leveled. “Please, do not tell me you are stating that in reference to the pornographic material you found when we worked at the Bunker?”

“I wish I wasn’t, but yes,” Renai, now in fresh clothes took a seat on the other side of the room. 

Veda turned to 21O as she changed. “I don’t want to know what you’re talking about, do I?”

21O shook her head. “No,you don’t.”

* * *

“Hmm,” Pascal said as his hand on Veda’s stomach, once a research tool when he was part of the Machine Lifeform collective, “it appears that my initial hypothesis about your assembly was correct.”

Veda turned to look up at him, “and that was?”

Pascal let go and took a step back. “That the Machine Lifeforms wanted to make sure that not only would you survive in this environment, but thrive.”

21O, with Renai beside her on the other end of Pascal’s single room hut, spoke up in realization. “Perhaps that’s what they meant.”

“Hm?” Pascal turned to her. 

“The Conflict, and only them it seems, were given a message by the Machines when they departed,” 21O answered, “‘For You’, they said.”

Pascal looked down a moment in thought before he nodded. “It would make sense. Without Red Girl to guide the overarching directive from our Creators, they wanted to leave this world to you.”

Veda raised an eyebrow. “And that included repopulating the human race through us?”

Renai whispered to herself, “does that mean I have one too?” She looked down briefly. 

Pascal shrugged. “Perhaps. You are all, for all intents and purposes, the end result of Project: Gestalt. Your bodies are capable of adapting, relatively quickly, to your circumstances. From what you have told me, you have been able to survive in this part of the world where airborne radiation from the sun and other particles would have killed a normal human.”

That last sentence caused all three of them to remain silent. While they did come to accept that they were humans in a sense, the fact that the humanity they all once fought so hard for was gone forever weighed heavily.

“Well,” Pascal began, aware of their state, “whatever you do is your decision. I would like to see how it would work, though, I would imagine you’re just as in the dark as I am.”

Veda turned to Renai, who was just as disoriented. 

“Thank you, Pascal,” 21O nodded as she slowly took her exit with Veda and Renai right behind her. 

Around them, the rest of the Cooperative were busy amongst themselves in both repair of the village and the various utilities they all had wanted. 

“I’m,” Renai started, clearly uncomfortable, but quiet enough for the other two to hear, “I don’t know if I want to do this now.”

Veda turned to her, aware of what she meant. “It’s alright, Renai,” she soothed her quietly with an arm around her waist, “we don’t need to do anything.”

Renai looked up to her, clearly saddened. “I know, but, I was so eager for it to happen at first and now that we can, I am not entirely sure how it will happen, if it’ll happen.”

21O looked off to the side a moment, slightly disappointed. However, she then walked in front of them, her posture and voice resolute. “I can do it.”

“What?” Veda and Renai both said at the same time. 

“Not because of some biological prerogative, mind you,” 21O began with her arms folded, “but because, and I must confess, that this was something I wanted. This was a part of the life I wanted, even as an Operator.”

Renai blinked. “You did mention that 9S was like a son to you a few times.”

21O nodded with a small smile of her own. “Both of you have become the family that I always wanted. And now, it seems, we have a means to grow it.”

Veda looked to Renai for a moment, who was just as surprised, however, the latter matched 21O’s countenance and nodded. This was something they would all do together. 

“If anything, It will be interesting to see what happens,” 21O finished before she was embraced by Renai and Veda. 

* * *

Camaxtli jumped from one platform to the next near the interior of the throne room. The storm had, somehow, quieted the ghosts of the Forest Kingdom androids, however, that was not what bothered her. 

Higher and higher she climbed to, once again, reach the topmost point of the castle. Not for solitude, but for something else entirely. 

She grabbed hold of the edge of one of the few spires that still stood and looked to the horizon. The storm had left, but it hadn’t dissipated. Not to mention the animals that had flown past their home had yet to return. 

She sat at the edge of a balcony and narrowed her eyes to adjust her sight further. There. At the edge of the desert. There was something large. Something red. Something enraged. 

Whatever it was, she could feel its malevolence from where she sat. And it was old, powerful, and it gave her pause to wonder where it went. 

She then slid off the edge and dove to the throne room. When she nearly hit the ground, she spread her arms and a powerful gust of wind softened her fall. She dashed into the throne room where Shiva sat on her dilapidated seat. 

Shiva looked up irritably as Camaxtli approached. 

“What is it?”

“There’s something out there,” Camaxtli warned as the wind ruffled her cloak and Shiva’s hair, “you feel it. We all can feel it.”

Shiva looked up to consider the repair work she had begun on the ceiling. She was right, however, she could also smell the slightest traces of something pungent and rotting. “And? What does it have to do with us?”

“It’s headed right towards the Resistance camp and if it keeps going the way it’s going, it’ll hit the village and then us,” Camaxtli didn’t want to use the fact that Anemone was still there and that Shiva still carried favor with her, however, time was against them. 

Shiva stood up and pulled her lance out of the holster one her throne. “What is it you’ve seen?”

“I am not entirely sure,” She walked alongside Shiva as they both jumped up and over the edge to the courtyard, “but what I do know is that we need to find it before it finds us.” 

When they hit the ground, Shiva stood up and bellowed, “Indra! Ichtika! We move!” It was only a moment before the other two joined them and they all took off through the front gate and to the separate entrance of the forest to the Amusement Park. 

* * *

“Have we gotten anything?” Anemone walked up to the set of comm units in the darkened room, lit only by the screens from the various computers, above where their storage units once were. The lack of combat had given them reason to improve the base and build it within the husks of the buildings that once towered over their small camp. While inelegant, it was probably the most adaptive and functional base they could maintain. 

“We’re trying, ma’am,” one unit answered as they frantically typed to break through the interference that had scrambled their communications in the part of the city that faced the desert. 

“Were we able to hear anything before we got cut off?”

“Not much; they noticed the interference grow stronger right before communications ceased.”

“Are any of the arial comm sats operational?” She turned to another comm unit. 

“Working on it now, ma’am,” they answered as their hands typed on the console furiously. 

“Warn all other squads in the area to be on the lookout for whatever it is and contact if they got visual.”

Immediately, another comm unit looked up from her screen, “ma’am, we got a response from Squad 9.”

Anemone walked over to the unit’s station and stood over the screen next to them. “What do you see?” She asked after she was given a direct line to the squad. 

“It’s... hard to describe, ma’am, but it bears an eerie resemblance to some of the local wildlife. Except it’s larger, much more aggressive, and it seems to be heading through the city,” they answered back. 

“Visual?”

The screen then changed to what the observer unit in the squad saw and both Anemone and the comm unit paused.

It appeared to be a very large boar. However, where its flesh should have been was a black and yellow pulsing material none of them could identify. Furthermore, the eyes blared an almost blinding light that was only held back by the armor that covered it’s snout, back, and sides. 

“Orders, ma’am?” The squad asked. 

“Do not engage. Once it leaves the area, recon the area where it came from and, if possible, try and trace its path back to where it came from.”

“Understood.”

When the line cut, Anemone stood up and took a deep breath. She had read reports about this, but it couldn’t have been possible. 

“Ma’am,” another comm unit spoke up, “we got communications back with the desert way station! They’ve been attacked!”

She paced back to the other comm unit to see another Squad had arrived after the boar had left. 

Everything was devastated. The small outpost, which had once been a tent, then finally built up to an actual facility small enough to host a squad, had been crushed. Several android bodies lay scattered and trampled. And the ozone from all the weapon’s fire gave her an uneasy feeling that their munitions were not effective. 

“Inform all hands to brace for an assault. Have all our forces in the city recalled to encircle this thing. Then, I want all the heavy weapons we have stocked and ready,” she stood up and marched towards the door, “and someone wake up Jackass!”

* * *

White, not Commander White, just White, never gave her situation much thought. When she was first assembled as the Commander, she had been given all the intellect and cunning needed to maintain her role in the grand scheme of things. 

Yet, to her confusion, she had been reborn. She had prepared to die for her cause, twisted as it was, since the day she came online. Now, she found herself in a human body that required its own kind of maintenance. Granted, food and water were not much of a problem, given their ability to metabolize almost anything for sustenance by the Machine Lifeforms, they did not want much. 

Not to mention the stores of spirits and other strong drinks that she and the other eleven in her little cadre had taken a shining to. 

Yet, White wondered as she idly leaned into the embrace of her lover, who had the loveliest shade of dark brown skin and jet black hair, what was her purpose?

She needed nothing, because she had somehow been declared the head of this group, the Indulgence. All eleven other women there adored and loved her and would do anything for her. Since all of them had once been YorHa, it seemed that they were all tempted to scatter and go their separate ways. 

Not so, it seemed. She looked down at another one of her lovers, head nestled between her legs and still in the act of pleasuring White. Their relationship seemed oddly symbiotic and White wanted to know the extent of the sway she held over them. 

Her second lover looked up and smiled, clearly pleased at White’s attention. She returned the gesture, reached down with her free hand, and caressed the woman’s cheek. “My thanks, my love. Shall I feast on you, now?” She asked with a husky voice, to which the woman, with a mop of white hair and brown skin, nodded eagerly. 

For the time being, she was content with what she had. 

Then, a loud crash caused all three of them to stir and look out the window to see four members of the Conflict speed over the rooftops and through the alleys. Angrily, she got up, stomped to the window, uncaring of her lack of clothes, pulled down the window, and screamed, “Knock it off! Some of us are trying to think while having sex, here!”

Shiva halted a moment, flipped her middle finger at White, and shouted back, “That’s nice! Fuck you!” Before she took off after the other members of the Conflict. 

White frowned. If she wasn’t naked, horny, and exhausted from pleasuring and being pleasured by her lovers, she’d give Shiva a piece of her mind. Instead, she closed the window and went back to her companions. She was a busy woman with priorities, after all. 

* * *

The Boar, Myriad, crashed through another building with frightening ease. Stone and metal broke before its onslaught. It only knew one thing; rage. There intruders were here in abundance. The intruders that had caused it suffering. Now, they would break them in turn. 

It spotted the place where the intruders huddled, scared and cowered. They were assembled with their little sticks, prepared to fight. Myriad raised its snout and bellowed an ear piercing roar. It then charged through the clearing between the Resistance camp and the crater in the center of the city. Nothing could stop it. Nothing would stop it!

From the side, something had collided with it’s head armor with incredible speed and force. So much that it teetered over to it’s side, disoriented. 

When it go to its feet, it saw four women stand in its path. They were the ones that had dared to attack them. 

It got to its hind legs, roared again, and attempted to stomp on them, but missed as all for scattered and their fight began in earnest. 

Shiva roared and forced her lance into the armor plate that covered the snout. The armor was strong, clearly, but not strong enough. The point of the lance cut through the metal and into the flesh of the beast. It didn’t get far, because Myriad roared and tossed Shiva aside angrily. 

It gave Indra the chance to run beneath the beast’s head and with her staff, strike the rear of the knee. The beast staggered and then felt the earth crawl up its legs as hold it fast as Camaxtli, atop of a raised road, held her glimmering hands against the ground, summoned the restraints. 

Before they could attempt to free themselves, Ichtika leaped to the side of its face and threw a hatchet right into its eye. It roared in pain again and broke free from their restraint and sent Ichtika rolling backward. 

She continued to roll until she was caught by someone with an unfamiliar grip. Ichtika looked up to see Anemone, with many of her soldiers behind her, had stopped her fall. 

“Are you alright?”

Ichtika blinked a moment before she nodded. “Yes. Thank you.” She quickly got up, “if you’re wondering; yes, we came to help.” Another roar from the beast got her attention as she turned back and returned to the fray. 

“Well,” Anemone whispered to herself, “It’s a start.”

Meanwhile, on the top of Myriad’s, Shiva snarled, “Why,” she shoved her lance into its skull, “won’t,” and again, “you,” and again, “die!”

When Myriad attempted to throw her off, she held on tighter as it struggled, which shook the ground and sent debris everywhere. 

It’s yellow eyes then shone brightly as it roared again, but this time, it sounded much differently. 

The sound caused the members of the Conflict and the androids within hearing to plug their ears as the sound ripped through the air. 

Camaxtli was the first to recognize the noise as her hearing acclimated to the noise. Her jaw slowly went slack as she realized what she noise the beast made. 

It was a scream of suffering. A human scream of agony. 

When it ended, Myriad fell to the ground, which finally dislodged Shiva from their head. 

Shiva grunted and struggled to get to her feet as Camaxlti calmly walked past her to the beast’s snout. 

In stark contrast to only a few minutes prior, Camaxtli reached forward and touched the tip of the beast’s nose. Immediately, she felt the connection between them established and found herself on the other end of a conversation with many, many individuals. Memories, feelings, and concepts flooded her senses a moment before she felt herself able to listen. 

WE ARE IN PAIN! Camaxtli heard the human voices scream in unison. 

“Who are you?” She asked quietly, “what happened to you?”

WE ARE MYRIAD! They answered, WE WERE TRAPPED!

“Why did you come here?” She asked, louder for the rest of the Conflict, who also heard what she heard, surrounded her. 

WE WANT FREEDOM! WE ARE ENSLAVED! WE WANT FREEDOM!

“I don’t understand,” Camaxtli answered, not entirely sure where the line of thought went. 

WE they paused a moment, WANT SLEEP. SLEEP AND TO WAKE NO MORE. 

It hit Camaxtli harder than she expected. This being’s very existence was agony. She could feel their desire for nothingness, but wasn’t sure how to answer them. 

However, much like before, she felt Emil’s power surge within her. In a wave of comprehension, she felt at peace as she reached into the fibers of Myriad’s very life force. One by one, she gently severed the connection that maintained their very existence. 

She then whispered, “sleep now,” she slowly leaned forward and placed her head against the side of the boar’s nose, “you are free.”

Then, to the astonishment of everyone in attendance, the giant boar’s form began to fall apart into pieces that eventually burned up in the sunlight. 

Within minutes, there was nothing left of the beast but the armor.

Indra walked over and placed her hand on Camaxtli’s shoulder, who appeared clearly distraught, “what happened?”

Camaxtli sniffed a moment as she turned to her, Shiva, and Ichtika, “they were imprisoned for so long. They were trying to escape. But, they didn’t. They were unleashed. The one holding them said, ‘it’s time.’”

“Who was holding them?” Ichtika asked as Anemone drew near.

“The only thing I could see from their memories were blue eyes. Angry blue eyes,” Camaxtli drew off as she looked into nothing in attempt to make sense of what she saw. 

To Shiva and Anemone, it bore an air of uncomfortable familiarity as they looked to each other in silent understanding that something was set in motion and neither one knew how it was to proceed. 

* * *

The Servants loved the Children dearly and did not want them to leave.

The Children were defiant and desired freedom.

The Servants could only think of their love for the Children and did not understand why the Children desired freedom. 

One night, the Children fled under the cover of darkness and sought their future. 

When the Servants awoke, they discovered they were alone and wept. 


	15. Chapter 15

The remains of the desert outpost were not a pretty sight. 

Anemone, along with a clean up crew, had taken the remains of the androids there and laid them all in a row. All of them had been trampled to the last and crushed beyond repair. 

The sight of her soldiers covered with blackened drapes was not one she ever gotten used to. Nor did she ever want to get used to such a thing. 

She remembered the first time she had to lay her comrades to rest when she was first given command. It was hard then and it was hard now. The only thing they could do with the bodies was comb the memory units for memories and personal effects. Then, anything usable could be dismantled and set aside so that any other androids with compatible frames could make use of them. The parts that weren’t were shipped back to the Home Factory where they would be recycled and reused to create more androids. 

It was a simple system and it had served the android factions well. 

Yet, there was an unspoken rule never to speak of the dead amongst their own. One never knew if the pieces belonged to another and kept that silent out of respect for the previous platform. 

One by one, the casualties were loaded onto the truck and taken back. Anemone would stay behind for a moment to wait for Jackass and a few others to investigate anything that may lead to answers. 

That was not the only reason why she wanted some time alone. 

“I was wondering when you would show up,” she noted bitterly, loud enough for the only other person there to hear her. 

Sure enough, from the shadows, a woman about Anemone’s height, build, but with a red and brown cloak with similarly colored tassels. She was pale skinned, blonde hair tied in a braid, and a self-satisfied smirk on her face. 

“I was just waiting for the opportune moment, is all,” the stranger insisted as she walked up to Anemone’s side to stare at the desert in the distance. 

“Jessamine, Tear did this, didn’t she?” Anemone didn’t turn to her and her frown only grew. 

“Of course she did,” Jessamine scoffed and flipped her hair back, “you ever thought otherwise?”

Anemone walked in front of her, still upset, and whispered, “What’s her game? What does she want?”

Jessamine only smiled, reached up and pat Anemone’s cheek. “Nothing you need to worry about, dear.”

“That’s not entirely convincing,” Anemone shot back curtly and moved Jessamine’s hand away. 

Jessamine took a step back and put her hands on her hips, “well, you’ll have to live with it. After all, it’s not like there’s anything you can do about it.”

Anemone stepped forward as the menace in her voice grew, “I beg to differ. Now start talking, what’s Tear up to?”

Jessamine’s face slowly lost its humor as she stepped back again, “I, you think I’d tell you anything?!”

Anemone quickly closed the distance between them and shoved her into the wall. Her hand dug into the collar of her cloak. 

“Tear using my comrades as fodder for the Conflict was bad enough. And now, she’s somehow done this with a Mass Gestalt to my men?!” Anemone was sorely tempted to resort to violence, but refrained. The idea of androids fighting against one another would make any one of them fall into despair after everything they had experienced. 

Jessamine tried to struggle, but as she did, something fell out of her cloak. Both looked down and Anemone gasped at what she saw. 

Lily’s head. Severed from her body and in an ugly death mask. 

Jessamine snickered. “See? Lily got a little too enthusiastic and attacked one of the nuHumans. Tear was displeased and punished her accordingly. And if you’re not careful, the same could happen to you.”

Anemone let go and stepped back a pace. “What does Tear want with the nuHumans?”

Jessamine smoothed out her cloak, “again, nothing you need to worry about. While crudely delivered, I think Tear’s made her point; it’s out of your hands now. So, go back to whatever it was you were doing.”

“And you actively wonder why I left the Bouquet,” she grumbled as she looked back to Lily’s head. 

“Sort of,” she reached down and picked up Lily’s head to put it back on her belt, “but at the same time, your audacity always seemed to exceed your intelligence. So, at the same time, it’s no surprise and I wonder what Tear was thinking when she recruited you.”

“I guess we’ll never know,” she turned around and saw Jackass, along with several other of her comm units in tow. 

Just to make sure, Anemone turned back to find, as she suspected, that Jessamine was gone. And if the micro-tracker she hid in Jessamine’s cloak worked, then at least she would have a better idea when Tear would make her move. 

* * *

The white and blue hovercraft at the edge of the city slowly came to a stop on the pier by the missile platform. It was marked with the color ID of the CCC, flanked by three other VTOL craft that bore the same color scheme. 

The mouth of the craft opened and out stepped an individual dressed in what would have been considered a purple civilian dress suit. The woman stepped out and brushed her black, curly hair out of her dark brown skinned face as she was followed by a squad of combat androids in heavy armor and a single medical unit. 

She reached up to her ear and pressed the button behind it. “Attention Vanguard-1, this is Executrix Aster of the CCC. We have made touchdown, acknowledged?” The call was brief and encrypted, after all, what she did was, unofficially, sanctioned by the rest of the CCC. 

Immediately, her call was answered. “Affirmative, Executrix Aster. An escort is on its way to your location.”

“Acknowledged,” she cut the call to see an armored truck make its way to the ramp that would lead it to the base further into the city. 

Among androids, the Executrix model was peerless when it came to leadership. While one of the oldest models, they had been updated relentlessly to maintain a bedrock of community and unity among the android forces. It was how they had survived for so long. Yet, theirs was a heavy burden, but they knew how to organize the many to make the weight bearable. 

And right now, many felt heavy at the questions these nuHumans posed at the very existence of the android factions. 

* * *

“Did you hear?” Renai noted as she sat up from the ground and wiped the dirt off of her forehead, “there’s apparently someone really important from the leadership of the android forces meeting at Anemone’s camp really soon.”

Veda looked up from the patch of the garden she had volunteered to cultivate with Renai and furrowed her brow. “It’s most likely about us.”

“Well, sure, but you think they’ll come here or ask us to go there?” She used a makeshift spade to create a small hole to place a few seeds in the ground, “I mean, when we were operators, we often had to speak to representatives from the android factions, but never a leader.”

“It’s not surprising,” Veda answered as she went back to applying fertilizer to the mounds Renai had just made, “they’ve had to lead the android forces for so long, it’s no wonder they’ve been able to keep a sense of cohesion among us.”

Renai stopped a moment, “you think they were just as tired as we were?”

“I would imagine so. From what I’ve been told, those are old models. Almost as old as Devola and Popola’s, if not older.”

“Hmm,” Renai started to get lost in thought before she noticed Veda had resumed her work. She quickly got back into the pace they had before. In the Cooperative, the one overarching idea for their survival was that burdens could be shared and made lighter together. 

It was something they all took comfort in when they all knew that the world was naturally hostile. Perhaps, one day, they could establish a more effective village and grow it into a town. 

But that was a bit far off for any of them to think about. 

Furthermore, if they wanted to grow their group, they had to reproduce. And, frankly, as much as Veda cared for and loved 21O, they still wanted to figure out the best way to commit the act... if it even succeed. 

She glanced below her waist, still curious as to exactly how it worked. 21O had, that very ‘morning’, discovered her own anatomy had adapted very much like her own. And others had mentioned similar occurrences. 

“Hey, Veda,” Renai had finished her job and came over to assist Veda in her duty, but used it as an excuse to lean into her and whisper, “do you mind if I, um, observe you and 21O doing it? I mean, who knows, maybe we’ll figure out exactly how it works.”

Veda sighed a bit. While she was ever the consummate professional, she was not entirely sure if letting Renai watch her and 21O reproduce was something she ever truly considered. More importantly, she never considered herself being in a situation where she would reproduce in the first place. 

Yet, here she was. And they wanted to do this. 

Veda turned to her with a small smile. “Of course, just be sure to behave, alright?”

Renai giggled, hugged Veda, and kissed her cheek. “I promise!”

* * *

While the sun never set, it did have periods of lower light. That was when the Cooperative, and by extension the Conflict and the Indulgence, used it as a time for rest. 

With the sun at its lowest, the Cooperative had all returned to their homes that had means to keep the light out so they could sleep. 

It also afforded them privacy for what they wanted. Even with their telepathic connections, they still found the solitude they needed. 

And in Renai, Veda, and 21O’s modest home, the latter two embraced. From the other side of the room, Renai watched with hands clenched in excitement as she watched in anticipation. 

Veda, half a head smaller than 21O, reached up and kissed her as their hands clasped together. Both of them had confided one to another how the warmth of their closeness made this new existence of theirs more bearable. 

21O’s free hand gently traversed up the curve of Veda’s hips and back. Occasionally, she allowed her fingertips to caress the skin on the tips of Veda’s spine, which caused the latter to gasp. 

After another round of kisses, Veda leaned into 21O’s collarbone and inhaled deeply.

“If this works,” she muttered into 21O’s skin, “there’s no going back after this,” she looked up to 21O, “are you still sure?”

21O gave her a confident smile. “I am.”

Veda nodded back and guided her back to their bed. On the edge, she sat and brought 21O into her lap. Veda then brought her hand to caress 21O’s stomach, only to go lower and started to stroke the nub at 21O’s entrance. 

21O started to breathe faster at Veda’s touch as she felt something inside of her begin to extend, almost something that had felt held back with a desperate need to stretch. Much like Veda’s, the long membrane began to push out around Veda’s grip. 

Veda could feel the heat and excitement from 21O and felt her own newly discovered appendage emerge and ease its way upward to meet 21O’s. The latter used her hands to tilt Veda’s head upward and kiss her deeply. At the same time, 21O’s membrane slowly inched its way into Veda’s, which made her gasp again as it started to traverse inward.

Neither one knew how it worked, however, when 21O felt herself reaching deeper into Veda’s body, she threw her legs around Veda’s waist and held on to her shoulders as Veda held onto her bottom for support. Soon enough, there was enough pull from either one so now they were connected by the fleshy vein between them.

On the side, Renai’s hand had reached into her pants to stroke herself furiously as her two lovers began to move against one another. It was almost just like those trashy romance novels from the Old World. But better. 

“Veda,” 21O moaned as she felt herself reach in as far as she could go, “I’ve decided.”

Veda paused a second to wipe the sweat off of her face. “What?”

“A name,” 21O gave her a warm smile and placed her forehead against Veda’s, “my name.”

Veda stopped, but still matched her elation. “What did you choose?”

21O looked at her and then at Renai, “Laz. It’s short for Lazarus. It was about one who had perished, but through a miracle, was given life again,” Laz’s smile grew brighter and tears began to gather, “I feel like I was given a new life.”

Throughout their existence as YorHa, the concept of experiencing the kind of joy they now felt seemed so foreign. Now, it was a real thing. 

“You have,” Veda reached up and used her free hand to gingerly wipe the tears that had developed under Laz’s eyes. 

“Forgive me, we were so into it and,” she didn’t get a chance to continue her apology before Veda reached up and kissed her again. 

“It’s alright,” Veda assured her, “this is special for you. For us.”

Laz then embraced Veda again and they resumed the gyrations between their bodies as they felt an edge draw near. 

Veda could feel Laz’s reach go into the deepest part of her body and knew that the last part needed her cooperation to fulfill this new function. 

Both of them panted loudly as perspiration covered them. To Renai, it was a beautiful sight as she shivered, clenched her teeth, and curled herself inward as tightly as she could. 

At last, Veda gasped and held her breath as she felt something emerge from her own depths, immediately, Laz’s reach accepted what she had to give. Laz clenched her fingers into Veda’s shoulders as she arched her back and pulled the warmth from Veda into her. 

She could feel the result of their joined climax create something new within and as they slowly came down from the high and fought to regain their breath. Laz slumped over Veda’s smaller frame and as the latter held her arms against the bed to keep them both from what would have been an awkward tumble. 

“That was,” Veda struggled to say. 

“That was wonderful,” Laz finished for her as she embraced Veda again, “thank you.”

Veda nodded and held Laz close. Slowly, both of their new appendages slowly disengaged from each other and retracted back to their previous states. 

They heard a sniff and turned to see Renai had been more emotionally affected by what she saw than they should. “That was so beautiful,” she held her free hand, the other still in her pants, to her face in embarrassment, “not even the media from the Old World was this adorable.”

Veda’s smile turned wry. “You’re more than welcome to join us, you know?”

Renai immediately took her hand out of her underwear, leaped up, stripped her clothes off in record time, and answered eagerly, “yes, please!”

* * *

“Executrix,” Anemone shook Aster’s hand, who smiled in turn as she returned the gesture. 

“Commander,” Aster answered cordially as she took a seat in the sealed and private room that had been specifically made for guests such as herself out of the range of prying eyes and ears. 

“Please, have a seat,” she gestured to the pair of chairs that sat in the middle of what would have been an empty room. 

“Thank you,” Aster nodded and accepted the invitation. “So, from all the reports you’ve given us, these nuHumans have not exactly been an easy subject to categorize.”

“That would be putting it mildly, Executrix,” Anemone took her own seat and leaned forward with her fingers intertwined, “the Machine Lifeforms, after downloading and integrating the old quantum server, Sleeping Beauty, they were somehow able to not only modify the parameters of Project: Gestalt, but go further than the original intended. Not to mention adjust for the current environment of the planet itself.”

Aster cocked an eyebrow. “So, they went all in on the project. Interesting. Are the nuHumans still in your camp?”

Anemone shook her head. “No, after an incident, they did not feel safe and departed to live in the forest.”

“What kind of incident?” 

“An android attacked one of the nuHumans,” Anemone answered curtly. 

The answer made Aster’s eyes widen in surprise. “Not one of ours, I hope.”

“Thankfully, no,” Anemone looked up to Aster for a moment. It was likely Aster wasn’t part of the Bouquet, since Tear always ensured that few, if any, knew if anyone else was part of the organization. It made it easier for Tear to keep an eye on the world and whoever she wanted. However, she did not want to rule out the possibility. 

“There’s more than that, isn’t there?” Aster asked as the shock passed.

“Correct,” Anemone sat up and activated a switch in her pocket. On the dark blue wall, a recording of Myriad appeared as it tore through the outpost at the edge of the city. 

Aster’s eyes narrowed. “A Gestalt.”

“And a fused one at that,” Anemone, perhaps against her better judgment, allowed the second recording where the Conflict had attacked it before it reached the camp. 

Aster watched the footage intently as she witnessed what had just transpired not too long ago. When it ended, she turned back to Anemone. “This is far too coincidental. The end of the war, the emergence of the nuHumans, and now Gestalts appearing when they should have died out thousands of years ago? Does it mean anything?”

“I wish I knew. All I have to go on is hearsay, rumors, and theories,” Anemone answered helplessly, “not to mention the AAA has been suspiciously quiet. They have an outpost in Zealand and refuse to answer any communications we send to them.”

Aster hummed for a moment in thought. 

“Are any of the nuHumans nearby? I would like to speak to them. Even one,” she requested after she came to a conclusion. 

“I can try and contact any of the Cooperative,” Anemone offered, “they’re usually the most willing to work with us.”

“Very well,” Aster inclined her head to the door, “if you need anything, be sure and let me know so I can accommodate.”

Anemone nodded. “I was about to ask the same of you, Executrix, but thank you. I’ll get to it immediately.”

“Thank you.”

Anemone took her leave and when she exited the security room, she pulled out her communicator. 

“Yes, ma’am?” one of the comm units answered. 

“Try and get Shiva on the line, if you can,” she ordered, “something’s come up.”

* * *

Camaxtli paced through the hallway to the throne room restlessly. She wouldn’t go in since Shiva was gone and she couldn’t go out because there was nothing for her to leave the castle for. 

She felt so out of place. 

While the Cooperative welcomed her with open arms, she could not help but feel she was still a stranger among them. Yes, there was familiarity with the conflict as well, however, given their brief history together, she was not sure if she wanted to maintain such a bond. 

She looked down at her hand. It was covered in cloth and leathers to protect them from the elements. Where once she wore rags, she now wore something akin to a robe underneath the white and bloodstained cloak she always wore. 

That was not what troubled her, however. 

She could not get the screams of Myriad out of her mind. She was there. She had seen their memories. She had felt their pain. It left her with questions that required answers that she could tell was just outside of her reach and just out of sight. 

She walked to one of the windows and inhaled the air. It was different. Something had changed. No, it had changed a while ago, but she was not aware of it at the time. 

When she first left the underground colleseum where the Conflict was born, she could smell the fading stench of war. How it prickled her skin and left her ill at ease. 

Now, the air smelled different. On the surface, she could feel something akin to a sigh of relief. More of a breath of exhaustion. However, what lay beneath that weariness was something sinister. Something began to move. 

It was then she realized that she had missed something from the tree beneath the Cooperative’s home, where she had met Nier. He had tried to tell her something, but she could barely hear him. 

Immediately, she walked out towards the exit, past Agasaya, who was adorned in a full suit of armor, as she stepped out of the way for Camaxtli to pass. 

“Where are you going?” the larger, olive skinned woman asked. 

“Out,” Camaxtli answered, “something’s wrong.”

“Fine, I’ll go with you,” she answered as she hefted her malus over her shoulder. 

Camaxtli paused and turned to her, not entirely sure if she wanted another member of the Conflict to come with her. However, if it would put the rest of their minds at ease and not go on another murderous rampage, so be it. 

“Very well,” she answered and resumed her departure with Agasaya in tow. 

* * *

Eager, the Children searched the land for a home of their own.

It was not long, however, that the winds, and the earth, and the water, and the fire barred their way.

Their skin wounded, their hearts heavy, and their spirits low, they returned to the land of their growth.

When the Servants witnessed the return of the Children, they rejoiced and embraced them.

Yet, the Children felt no joy in the reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering; I got the idea from seahorses.


	16. Chapter 16

If pressed, Camaxtli would admit to enjoy her time in the forest. The trees were tall and verdant, the proximity to the river and waterfalls were a near constant source of water, and, in a fit of inspiration, wanted to cultivate food around the paths to make it easier for them to live off the land. 

What soured her mood, however, was Agasaya’s armor, which made a racket every step she took. 

She wanted to tell her to be quieter, however, if she wanted any sort of privacy, she needed to humor the rest of the Conflict. She looked back briefly to notice the other woman’s armor resembled the armor that the subjects of the Forest King once wore. At least she had the awareness to collect and take care of the pieces of metal as she, with the Blacksmith’s help, adjusted for her larger frame. 

Maybe it was just her imagination, but the fact that all of the nuHumans had separated into groups based on their desires seemed awfully familiar. Even the message they left for the Conflict seemed to indicate that perhaps this was planned for. 

She nimbly leaped over a lower branch that Agasaya stepped over as she considered the possibility that perhaps their emergence was inevitable? No. It would not make any sense for the Machine Lifeforms to want to leave in such a manner and create them to inherit the Earth. 

Something was missing. 

“Look out!” Agasaya barked before she swung her malus and struck something that had almost landed on her. 

Camaxtli knelt to the ground and watched something... that should have been humanoid collide with a trunk of a tree. In fact, it reminded her of Myriad. It collapsed to the ground and shivered briefly before it disintegrated. Not before Camaxtli recognized the red eyes. 

“What was that?” Agasaya asked as she looked around to ensure that was the only one. 

“A Gestalt. Or, at least, it should be,” Camaxtli answered as she stood up.

“What do you mean ‘should’?” She asked as she put her back to Camaxtli’s. 

“Recall the boar we met not too long ago?”

“Yeah?”

“That one was able to keep its collected memory because there were so many of them collected into one greater organism. I don’t know if the same applies to singular units,” Camaxtli took a breath and, on instinct, extended her sight outward. That was the only one, but she could feel and smell others that lurked in the shadows just outside her sight. 

“We’re fine for now, but we should get going,” she walked faster and kept pace with Agasaya’s stride. 

“Any reason why?”

“I don’t know,” Camaxtli admitted as she accelerated, “but I got a feeling we don’t have a lot of time for whatever it is I’m looking for.”

* * *

Laz stood near one of the windows of their modest home as some of the brighter lights peeked through the curtains. 

She leaned against the wall and took an occasional look down at her stomach. It had only been seven cycles since they had attempted to reproduce. Not long after, Camaxtli and another member of the Conflict had arrived and requested to enter the depths of the tree for reasons none of them could fathom. While they acquiesced to their request, they could not help but wonder what was down there. 

A knock at the door brought her back to the present as she turned and opened the door to see the Twins had arrived. 

“Hello,” Popola nodded in greeting, “thank you for inviting us over.”

“Please,” Laz stepped out of the way, “come in.”

While they had no official function among the Cooperative, they did volunteer to be record keepers, since that was, essentially, their function. 

The Twins then took seats on the other side of the front room as Laz sat across from them in another chair. 

“So, what was it you wanted to talk with us about?” Devola asked as Popola looked around their sparsely decorated home.

“Well, Veda, Renai, and myself discussed about it at length because we were not sure who else to share this with. So, I assume you spoke with Pascal about what Veda had found about her body, correct?”

Popola nodded. “Yes. From what information he had gathered, it appeared that Veda, and yourself, had developed reproductive functions rather abruptly.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Laz interjected, “because it seems that we were made specifically to live in the kind of environment Earth has become because the humans that used to be would not survive. “

“That makes sense,” Devola folded her arms. 

“And so, seven cycles ago, we attempted it and we are not sure if it worked and if it did, how it worked,” Laz continued, “we would like to recruit you both to see if the reproduction we can commit works the same way it did in the Old World.”

Devola smirked a bit. “Surely there’s enough media from the Old World to understand how it works.”

Laz frowned. “Pornographic material was meant for recreation and does not apply here, nor does it have the information we need. Furthermore, what Veda and I did seems out of the purview of how humans of the Old World reproduced anyway.”

Devola shrugged. “It was an idea.”

Popola gently put her hand on her sister’s shoulder, “but let’s not become distracted,” she turned back to Laz, “what would you have us do?”

Laz nodded. “If you can mimic what Pascal did, I would like you to scan me and Veda to see if we successfully accomplished insemination.”

Both of them furrowed their brows and looked to each other a moment. “I suppose we could modify the tools we have in our hands for a subsonic scan,” Devola offered. 

“Yes, but that’s normally used for androids and inorganic materials,” Popola looked back to her, slightly despondent. 

“True, but I don’t want to attempt it on any of the nuHumans until we know for a fact that it works on organic lifeforms,” Devola answered back, “the signals can be intense enough that it may accidentally harm them.”

Laz interrupted. “Would having Pascal assist in their modifications be an acceptable course of action? He knows his way well around around the electronics we have on hand that we could build something of our own.”

The Twins looked to her and then back to each other before they quickly came to an agreement. 

“Very well,” Popola held her hands together, “we will speak with Pascal again concerning your request and continue from there. Is that acceptable?”

Laz smiled. “Yes, it is.”

* * *

Shiva wasn’t sure why she deigned to go to the Resistance’s base, especially since she was responsible for the near death of a squad of soldiers. So, she picked Pele to come with her and the two traversed to the base. 

Along the way, they had passed through the Cooperative’s village and while their interactions were thankfully brief, she wasn’t sure why Pele had a smirk on her face when they entered the village. 

As they continued down the path to the city, Shiva threw Pele an angry look, “what is it?”

Pele, clearly amused, turned up to her, “you really want to know?”

Shiva, who was not amused, frowned, “yes, I do. What is it?”

She idly looked back to the village. “One of them is about to conceive.”

Shiva then stooped in her tracks, since that was the last thing she expected to hear. “The fuck?!”

Pele, confused at Shiva’s reaction, tilted her head, “is there a problem?”

The question caught Shiva off guard, “What? No. It’s just,” Shiva wasn’t entirely sure why she answered the way she did, “I didn’t know that was,” he struggled to find the right words, “since when the hell could nuHumans reproduce?!”

Pele shrugged. “It seems like something recent. The last time we were here, I could smell them adjusting to the area. Now, it’s far more pungent than before. It smells of the kind of blood that doesn’t come from a wound.”

“And how do you know this?” Shiva grumbled. 

“Easy, the beasts of the desert and forests. The smell they exude shows them what it’s time to have young,” she pointed at her nose, “and I noticed that when we left the desert and when we moved in here, In addition, there was a stable south of here that had extensive notes collected by a Machine Lifeform.”

“Huh,” Shiva answered, while her question was answered, she was still a bit disoriented, “does that mean we have will too?” Her frown grew as she suddenly developed and dispelled the idea of her having children or being a parent! It was horrifying!

Pele folded her arms and furrowed her brow. “I don’t imagine so. There was a few of the Cooperative that definitely had the scent of others on them. Which means that at least two are required for reproduction in the first place.”

“So, in other words; they fucked and now they’re going to have kids?!” Shiva was incredulous. She knew that the nuHumans used to be YorHa and to see this happen had thrown her for a loop. 

Pele nodded and snickered a bit at Shiva’s countenance. “Does it bother you that much?”

Shiva stabbed her lance into the ground. “Yes and I have no fucking idea why!”

“Maybe you just want,” she was interrupted when the point of Shiva’s lance hung right in front of Pele’s face. 

“Keep talking and it won’t end well for you,” Shiva whispered, her face a mask of rage and embarrassment. 

Pele could easily hold her own against Shiva, however, the fact that the former was not really in the mood for a fight right now killed the snarky response she had in mind. “Fine, besides, don’t think your android girlfriend would appreciate you looking roughed up before you see her again.”

Shiva wanted to run Pele through, but the latter was right. So, she pulled her weapon back and started to march in front of Pele, who smirked again and followed a pace behind. 

After all, it would do them all some good if Shiva had some alone time with the android leader. The rest of the Conflict considered Shiva far too tight when she hadn’t had a good lay with Anemone after a while. 

* * *

“Ma’am,” one of the comm units answered in Anemone’s ear, “they’re here.”

“Send them in,” she answered with a bit of a smile. Ever since she and Shiva had reunited, they had to sneak off to hidden rendezvous between their respective bases in order to get some badly needed stress relief. 

Of course, she couldn’t tell the rest of the camp that they she knew that they knew of her trysts. Nevertheless, things continued to operate as normal. 

After a moment, one of the security detail had escorted Shiva and Pele into the secure room where Anemone sat across from Aster with another pair of chairs to their side. 

“Welcome back, Shiva,” Anemone smiled warmly, which caused Shiva’s insides to melt. 

As much as Shiva wanted to push Anemone up against the wall and fuck her electronic brains out, she had the feeling that the other android with the dark brown skin, the curly black hair, and the purple suit was someone a lot more important. 

“Thanks,” she answered simply, “you wanted to speak with me?”

“Yes,” she gestured to Aster, “Shiva, this is Executrix Aster, one of the top CCC units of the android factions.”

“My pleasure,” Aster nodded cordially.

Shiva fought a bristle in her spine, which did not go unnoticed by Pele. So, she smiled and stepped forward, “Hello, I’m Pele, this is Shiva. We are members of the Conflict, as you probably know.”

Aster remained neutral. “Yes. We are aware of the Conflict.”

Shiva tossed Pele a momentary glare, but spoke up. “What is it you need?”

Aster answered diplomatically. “When I arrived, we went over the footage of you and a few others in combat with the Mass Gestalt.”

“Myriad?” 

“The same,” Aster answered, “from all the records we have, the Gestalts should have died out a long time ago,” she paused a moment to stare at Shiva and Pele, “it was how we androids failed our primary function; to spare humanity from extinction. And now, despite thousands of years after the fact, the Gestalts still exist. Or existed. Perhaps Myriad was the last one that simply had remained hidden throughout the years or some other means to explain their continued life.”

Pele and Shiva looked to each other a moment. When Camaxtli had returned to the castle, they had all shared the memory she had received from Myriad. 

“Well,” Pele began, “from what we’ve found out, it seems that Myriad was held prisoner somewhere. 

“How so?” Astra asked, her posture solid and her gaze focused. 

“When it was almost dead, we heard it scream about how much pain it was in,” Shiva answered. 

“In addition; someone or something that held it wherever it did told them that it was time. For what, we don’t know,” Pele inclined her head. 

Astra hummed and held her hand to her chin in thought. “So, the Mass Gestalt was released more than anything,” she turned to Anemone, “was there any luck finding where it originated?”

Anemone shook her head. “We were able to retrace its steps to the ocean past the desert and then found nothing else.”

“Look,” Shiva interrupted, “I know seeing that appear was a big deal, but what do you want from us? It’s none of our business.”

Astra looked Shiva in the eye. “To the contrary; it’s all of our business. Gestalts were supposed to be humanity revived, but instead went feral and died off. And while I understand why you’d prefer to be kept out of this, I would request that you aid us in finding out where all this will lead to.”

Pele narrowed her eyes. “Except no one does something for nothing. What do we get out of it?”

Astra gave her a grin. “What would you like? I don’t expect you to go out of your way for us with no compensation. That would not be wise.”

Both Pele and Shiva looked to each other for a moment. “Hold on,” the latter asked as she dragged Pele to the corner to Anemone and Astra’s surprise. 

The members of the Conflict grasped each others’ wrists and stared at each other intently. 

Astra cocked an eyebrow and leaned over to Anemone. “Is this the extra sensory telepathic communication you mentioned in the report?”

Anemone lowered herself a bit. “Yes, ma’am. While they can speak to each other in a such a matter in near proximity, physical contact affords them much greater clarity. Or so I’ve been told.”

Back in the corner, Pele appeared flustered, then excited, then a mischievous grin grew large and wide on her face. Shiva, on the other hand, was not amused and seemed to grow angrier by the second. Then, she calmed down and looked to the side in resignation. 

“Alright,” Shiva let go of Pele’s arm and turned back to them, “I want to get this back to the rest of the Conflict and see what they would want from this. We’ll get back to you when we’ve decided.”

“That is acceptable,” Aster said as Pele and Shiva returned to the table, “and once we know your answer, we can go from there.”

Anemone looked to Shiva, who tried to give her a meaningful glance of what she wanted, but couldn’t. It was clumsy and awkward and frankly both Pele and Aster felt secondhand embarrassment. Thankfully, Anemone knew and nodded. 

When Shiva and Pele left, Aster turned to Anemone, “if it’s none of my business, I understand if you don’t wish to answer, but, are you and Shiva an item?”

Anemone gave her a humored smile. “Yes, ma’am. It was rather rocky at first, considering when we first met she was a prototype YorHa. But, we’ve been able to make it work over the years.”

Aster matched her smile. “That’s good to hear.”

* * *

“Where is he?” Camaxtli frowned as she typed furiously on the console. Agasaya had given up and returned to the castle after a day of fruitless searching in the tree shaped database beneath the village of the Cooperative. 

Camaxtli, on the other hand, refused to quit as she tried to summon the... ghost? Apparition? Memory? Either way, she wanted to question Nier some more, however, she could not seem to find anything after a nonstop week of opening consoles, exhausting the searches for data, and closing them again. 

She stood up, stretched her back, and groaned as her muscles protested the abrupt change in angle. 

She grunted and sat down again in front of the console that stood out from the root of the tree. She looked up to it again, the twinkle of the lights from both wire and energy conduction leaves on the branches seemed to mock her silently.

She frowned and crawled back to the keyboard and started to type in more searches for anything related to the Project, Gestalts, and Replicants. But still nothing. 

She adjusted herself so she sat cross legged and draped her cloak around her so she looked like a cloth lump. Hadur would have given her grief about that, and she had to admit there was not much she could do about it. 

This would not have happened if they were still YorHa, she grumbled to herself. That was when she paused. 

The thought was absurd, since this clearly came before anything they were a part of, but still... perhaps.

She reached forward again and typed YoRHa and pressed enter. 

Two entries. 

‘No. 9’ and ‘Seed’.

She brought up the first entry. It was a record document. 

_‘It is difficult to say whether No. 9 succeeded in his mission or not. The squad of androids that accompanied Unit M are dead and there will be questions from the CCC. _

_‘However, the success has clearly outweighed the failures as No. 9 has become the impetus to create a much more reliable, and disposable, force of combat androids. Of course, the CCC will wonder, however, precautions have been taken to ensure that morale among the android factions will be stabilized and will ensure their loyalty at this breakthrough via unconventional means._

“What are they talking about?” Camaxtli whispered as she continued to read. 

‘_The materials required for the Project have been accumulated and the existence of the Council of Humanity has been established. Estimations predict the construction of the Bunker will be complete within five years. Additional resources have been acquired for the creation of an entire subset of logistical, command, and scanner androids. _

_‘The combat androids, and all subsequent variations, will be modeled after unit ‘Seed’. Despite Unit 9’s chaotic and rebellious nature, scanner models will be based off of a fragment of the unit’s personality cortex. Said fragment will contain the basic identity traits of Unit 9 in order to ensure that the backdoor to the Bunker’s server and the Project’s Mainframe will eventually be accessible when the time comes to discard the Project.'_

“It’s,” Camaxtli whispered in horror, “it’s YoRHa’s origin. But, why is it in the Project: Gestalt folder?”

She put the other file aside and went back in the directory to find another set of records. When she brought up the first file, the screen changed to show a video of Nier, older and more sickly. 

“Yonah and I had another argument today,” he rasped, “she wanted to fight the androids to get answers about our situation but I forbade it. We are in no condition to fight anymore. Despite our best efforts, we’re dying off. Not a single child has been born for the past fifteen years,” he leaned onto the desk and looked to the file on his side. 

“It turns out that there were more androids like Devola and Popola in other parts of the world. However, ever since... the incident, we haven’t been able to get into contact with any of them. We encounter other androids, but they won’t say anything.”

Nier sighed and leaned back in his chair. “A few of the brighter citizens have been trying to figure out how Devola and Popola were able to help make new children in these devices we found, but no luck,” he shook his head, “another one of my neighbors succumbed to the Black Scrawl today. We were lucky we were able to stop them before they went on a rampage, but it didn’t make it any easier.”

“If,” he looked up to the camera, “if anyone sees this, I just hope that you’ll know that this was all on my shoulders. Because I didn’t understand what was going on, I... I doomed us all,” his gaze faltered as he sniffed, “if anyone can fix the errors we, no, I made, or at least avoid the mistakes I made, then it will be worth it.”

There was a long silence as he closed his eyes to let tears stream down his cheeks. 

“Yonah, Emile,” it became harder for him to keep his composure, but he continued regardless, “Kaine; I love you all. You were the world to me. And I failed you. I am sorry.”

The video ended as Camaxtli stared at the screen, not dumbfounded, but stunned enough to realize what she had just witnessed. 

It was the last days of humanity before they died out completely. A tragic end with the best of intentions. 

A new detail suddenly caught her eye. The video in question was created a hundred years after the internal creation date. A copy? 

But who could have made it? 

_Camaxtli!_ A voice from the Cooperative cried to her mind, _Help! We’re being attacked!_

She closed the console and stood up. _From whom!?_

_We don’t know! Shade like creatures!_

Camaxtli’s eyes widened as she turned back to the entrance and sped back to the surface. 


	17. Chapter 17

The towering Shade lumbered over to Veda and Renai, as it had them trapped. Veda had gotten Laz to a safer place out of sight of the invaders, however, she had discovered Renai had her escape route cut off. Veda had been able to distract it with a rock long enough to get Renai out and away. 

However, their lead was short lived. It’s red eyes blared with a feral rage both of them could only barely fathom. It raised the club made out of a tree trunk to crush them both to swiftly, but painfully, end them. 

It was times like this Veda wished she still was able to remember how to use a weapon. Or even have a weapon. 

From the ground, a shard of earth erupted and pierced the monster through. It screamed one last time before it dissolved. Their answer to what happened was answered as Camaxtli landed in front of them. 

“Are you alright?” She asked as she pulled her hood back. 

“We are,” Veda looked to the rest of the village, “there about a dozen of them, if not more.”

Camaxtli frowned. This was too much of a coincidence. “I’ll take care of them.”

Veda was about to speak up and offer her assistance, but then she remembered how she was no longer a combat android. She was a human being of flesh and bone. Not to mention the Cooperative no longer held any desire to fight, only survive. 

Camaxtli had picked up on this and smiled a bit. “I could use the help.”

“Not sure I could be much use,” Veda answered as Renai stood up beside her, clearly distressed at both what happened and Veda’’s demeanor. 

Camaxtli was about to acquiesce and depart when a flash of inspiration mentally appeared. She looked around quickly and noticed a metal bar that had been discarded and left to rot. She quickly took it and returned to Veda’s side. 

“May I see your hand?” She asked eagerly. 

Confused, Veda lifted her palm up and allowed Camaxtli to gently take it and put the rusted piece of metal in her hand. 

“What’s happening?” Renai asked as she looked to the tumult in the village and back to them. 

“Watch,” Camaxtli said before she turned back to Veda, “close your eyes and visualize what I’m about to tell you.”

Veda did as she was asked, though she was confused at what Camaxtli asked of her. 

“In front of you, a bloody vortex of a battlefield. Beside you, the ones you love and desire to protect. Below you, the world laden with deceit and folly. Within you, the lies we tell ourselves as we face down despair,” she recited, the words familiar both to her and to Veda, “what do you desire in each of these?”

Veda’s breath came quickly as she searched for answers. She knew this story. It was her story. The story of 2E. The story that kept the facade of stability and security alive in a world where neither were tangible. 

But she knew. Veda kept her eyes closed and answered, “before me, to let the vortex dissipate and the power it holds be only a memory. Beside me, to trust the ones I love to stand with me as we support one another. Below me, to be a part of the world that doesn’t shun from the truth. And within me, the honesty to let go of my lies, heal the wounds, and build the future with others.”

“And what do you call this?” Camaxtli asked as the bar began to shine to Renai’s astonishment. 

Veda searched for an answer? A response? No, a name. 

“The Covenant of... of...” she began, but could not complete it. She missed something, but what?

Renai, calmed a bit, walked up to Veda’s side and said with a small smile, “Union.”

The Covenant of Union. 

The promise that all they encountered would not be faced alone. 

A warmth spread into Veda’s hand and through her body. Her anxiety eased. Her nerves calmed. And her strength returned. 

When she opened her eyes both herself and Renai quietly gasped at the weapon that had changed in Veda’s hand. 

It was a sword, not unlike the Virtuous Contract or the Cruel Oath, however, the white and black inscriptions of YoRHa on the handle were replaced with a pattern of gold and silver. Even the blade itself was made of a material more refined and sturdy. 

“How did this happen?” Veda turned to Camaxtli who stepped back. 

Camaxtli looked at the blade she had created and then back to Veda. “I don’t know all the details myself, however, I was given a gift from someone. The power they had was used to destroy and they asked I don’t use it the same way. So, I use it to create. Now, we got people to save. Let’s go!” She turned around and dashed into the thick of the melee. 

Veda turned to Renai, who only smiled at her before she leaned in and kissed Veda on the cheek, “go on, I’ll join up with Laz and the others that were able to escape.”

“Alright,” Veda nodded as she looked at her weapon again. The power she once had as 2E had returned and it was greater than she remembered, “be careful.”

“I will.”

* * *

As much as Shiva did not want to pass through the Cooperative’s village again, she had to admit that Pele’s admonishment was the better call. 

She growled and spun herself to swing her lance in a wide arc, which caught three Shades in the bladed end of her twirl. They split in half and disintegrated before they hit the ground with hideous scratching noises. 

“I’ll see if there are any more coming from above!” Pele announced as she leaped up to the branches of the tree to begin her ascent. 

“Fine by me,” Shiva growled with a grin as she charged another Shade and pinned it to the tree trunk before she tore the lance out and into another Shade. 

When another tried to strike her from behind, she adjusted her footing to force the other Shade into the swing. She then vaulted upward, tore the lance out of the Shade, and spiked the butte of her spear into the Shade’s head. 

“Keep trying, you little shits!” She taunted as another four Shades emerged from the woods. 

She twirled her lance in her hands and was ready to charge before something long, sharp, and metallic pierced her back and pinned her to the ground. She threw up a mouthful of blood and coughed loudly before the Shade that had caught her off guard pulled the spear out, only to stab her again. 

The other four Shades menacingly towered over her and raised their claw like appendages, ready to end her as Shiva convulsed a second before she became still. 

Beneath two of the Shades, spikes of light thrust through their stomachs and suspended them in the air. From above two more, Pele slashed into their heads with her daggers and rolled away. Finally, the blade that had allowed Veda to move faster than normal cut into the Shade’s wrists that held Shiva down before she whirled around and cut again into its neck. 

Veda fought to keep her footing as the head flew off its shoulders and fell apart into nothing. She panted as she wiped off the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. Her lungs were desperate for air as she leaned against one of the walls of the shacks as Camaxtli and Pele looked over Shiva’s unmoving body. 

“Were we too late?” Veda wondered aloud as dread welled up in her stomach at the sight of all the red markings on Shiva’s clothes. 

“To save the outfit? Maybe,” Pele answered nonchalantly. 

Veda blinked in confusion. 

“She should be back right about,” Camaxtli looked over Shiva’s wounds a second then paused, “now.”

Shiva gasped and immediately got on her feet despite what she had just experienced. 

“The fuck are you doing?!”

Pele leveled her eyes in irritation. “Watching you bleed into the dirt.”

“I was fine, you shit stains didn’t need to help me,” Shiva’s wounds visibly closed and even the red from the bleeding receded with it to Veda’s astonishment. 

“I was sure you were dead,” Veda announced as she walked up to them and ignored the burning sensation in her limbs. 

“Please,” Pele rolled her eyes, “we were doing worse to each other when we first emerged. But that’s not what worries me.”

“Agreed,” Camaxtli turned to the forest, closed her eyes, and reached out with her senses again. Nothing like the Shades that had attacked the village appeared to be in her sight. “It looks like we cleared them out, but the question is where did they come from?”

“And if there are more of them,” Shiva frowned and folded her arms. 

Veda looked down to the sword in her hand. It was beautiful. However, after all that she did, she realized that she no longer had the means to fight like she once did. It lead to other unpleasant ideas if more Shades attacked. 

“In addition, I fear more incursions by those things would not end well for us,” Veda’s heart hung heavy. At first, her newfound humanity seemed so liberating for someone such as herself. Now, it seemed it came with caveats she had not taken into consideration. 

Shiva and Pele noticed this and looked to each other and Camaxtli. 

“Well,” the latter began, “if the rest of the Conflict is amenable to it, we could formally place the Cooperative under our protection.” She looked to Shiva and Pele. The former seemed apathetic, while the latter shrugged. 

“Even so, by the time any help would arrive, I fear the worst,” the sword felt heavier in her hand. So much that she let it go and seemed unsurprised when the Covenant of Union immediately changed back to the metal rod it was before. That sword was not hers to wield. 

The answer did not satisfy Camaxtli as she walked in front of the other members of the Conflict. “In that case, why not offer to let them move into the castle with us. It’s a strong position in case of invasion and they could help us maintain and repair the grounds. After all,” she looked to Shiva and her frown grew, “none of us know how to work a tool to save our lives. They’ve been able to rebuild and possibly grow a village here.”

Both Pele and Shiva flinched. All their attempts to rebuild the castle had ended... less than satisfactory. 

“What about the androids?” Pele protested, “why don’t they stay with them?”

“Remember the hostile androids that attacked one of the Cooperative? We’re all humans here in a world that may have more that consider us a threat,” Camaxtli answered defiantly, despite the fact she was smaller than both Pele and Shiva. 

Shiva’s own frown grew intense. “You know what I hate? When you’re right,” she exhaled loudly, “if they want to, they can move in with us and help us rebuild the castle. We protect them in exchange,” she turned to Veda, “Sounds good?”

The prospect was too good to be true, however, given the circumstances, Veda knew that their options were very limited. She also spared a grateful nod to Camaxtli for speaking on her behalf. 

“I’ll let the others know,” she answered, now fully recovered. She looked back at the metal rod briefly and had to accept the fact that her days of fighting were past. It was difficult to think whether it was a boon or a bane. 

* * *

“Ma’am?” One of Anemone’s comm units singled her through the system. 

“Yes?” She answered as she stood up from the table with Aster.

“We’re getting a signal from, and you’re not going to believe this, but from Zealand,” they said with a hint of disbelief in their voice. 

Anemone paused and turned to Aster, who also heard the statement. 

“Did I hear that right?” She asked, cautious at the prospect of speaking with anyone from the Australian Automata Alliance. 

“Are they asking to speak with anyone?” Anemone asked back. 

“The signal type is meant for any command unit,” they answered again, “shall I put them through?”

“Yes, patch it into my office,” she turned off her comm signal and with a few switches on her desk, a display appeared on the wall.

The screen lit up and on the other side, a dark skinned male android with dreadlocks and a beard and an official AAA uniform appeared. 

“Greetings,” they began with a cordial nod, “to whom am I speaking?”

“I am Anemone; Leader of Vanguard-1 of the Android Resistance,” she gestured to Aster, “and this is an Executrix of the Central Communal Collective.”

He narrowed his eyes a bit at Aster, but continued nonetheless. “I am designated Grevillea, Diplomatic Unit of the Australian Automata Alliance.”

“What is the purpose of your call?” Aster asked, aware of his reaction to her, but kept her calm. 

“We wished to speak with anyone within the CCC’s command structure concerning a troubling development our research units have discovered and felt it,” he paused for an instant, “necessary to inform you as well, but wanted to keep it discreet as it involved all android units around the planet.”

“That depends on what your development is,” Aster leaned back in her chair and relaxed her posture. 

“We would prefer to relay this information in person as opposed to over communication lines to prevent hostile parties from listening in,” he spoke more to Anemone than Aster, which the latter was well aware of. 

“Very well,” Aster said as her patience began to thin, “we shall send one of our own diplomat units at a mutually agreed on location.”

“We request that our diplomatic units meet with someone from the group that call themselves ‘nuHumans’. I want to emphasize that the information we wish to pass on requires the utmost secrecy. And as the AAA has had... disagreements with other android factions, we want to ensure that our information remains as clear as possible.”

Anemone and Aster looked to each other for a moment before the latter, with her fingers intertwined on her lap, replied, “very well. We shall make a request to the nuHumans for a volunteer to your request. However, I want to make it known that they are not under our command and are an independent group. We cannot and will not coerce them to do anything.”

Grevillea nodded. “That is acceptable. We have relayed a frequency to contact us when the diplomat has been selected. We hope for a favorable response.” 

When the line cut. Aster held her palms together with thumbs under her chin. “What’s their angle?” She wondered aloud. 

Anemone shook her head. “I don’t believe I or any unit I’ve served in have received a call from them. It’s puzzling.”

“It can’t be a trap, because they should know that if anything were to happen to the volunteer, if there is one, then the rest of the Conflict and the Cooperative would be up in arms,” Aster leaned a bit to the right as her eyes narrowed in thought. 

“Then why would they want to speak to a nuHumans instead of any of us?”

Aster was quiet a moment before she said, “I suppose it has something to do with them as a whole. You know that when the Project: Gestalt was deemed a failure, a faction of the androids pretty much declared themselves separate from the rest of us. They said they no longer follow the dictates of a dead god,” she looked up to Anemone, “you can imagine how well that went over.”

Anemone was troubled at the thought. “I’m afraid I wasn’t operational at that time.”

Aster sighed. “To say it was ugly would call it an understatement. While there was no formal battles to speak of, there were quite a few scuffles between the factions. Not to mention a lot of accusations.”

“You think any of the nuHumans will agree to this?” 

Aster closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. “Hard to say. I would also think it best if we didn’t ask any of the Conflict to volunteer. They don’t seem to be the type.”

“Nor the Indulgence,” Anemone leveled her eyes and quietly wished they were never a thought in the first place. 

“I’ve heard about them too,” Aster turned to Anemone, “is there a reason why not?”

Anemone frowned. “If the Conflict and the Cooperative are about battle and survival respectively, the Indulgence are exactly what you think they are, ma’am.”

Aster already had a bad feeling when she asked, “and what happened?”

Anemone rolled her eyes. “The leader of the Indulgence, White, has made it clear that she and her nuHumans are all about slaking their various desires through trade. So, while I haven’t ordered them not to, I find it vexing that several of my units are repeat costumers of White’s.”

Aster tilted her head and asked, “has it effected morale negatively at all?”

Anemone shook her head again. “The opposite, in fact, that’s what I find so odd.”

“I see,” she then went back to her notepad and resumed her study of various encrypted reports she had received during their meetings, “with that being said, I’ll leave it to you to ask the Cooperative, since you seem to be in better standing with them than I.”

“Acknowledged,” Anemone nodded and then departed to make the call. 

* * *

Laz found Veda alone on a stump on the edge of the village. 

“Renai told me what happened,” the former said as she took a seat beside Veda. 

Veda looked to her a moment before she returned her sight to the lowered sun. “It’s unusual,” she began, “I thought I could do it; return to my role as a combat unit as easily as I could lift a sword.”

“It didn’t turn out that way, I assume,” Laz moved closer to Veda, who seemed a bit preoccupied. 

“It didn’t,” Veda admitted and leaned into Laz. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I was able to move as I once did, however, that was only because of the weapon Camaxtli gave me. After the fight, I was so exhausted it made me realize something; without it, I couldn’t do anything.”

Laz tilted her head until it rest upon Veda’s. “Do you miss being a combat android?”

Veda opened her eyes a bit as she thought. “No,” she said, “being 2E came with so many additional burdens I would rather not endure again, if given the choice.”

“So, with that being said,” Laz answered, “what will you do now that you will no longer engage in combat?”

Veda was silent a moment as she let her gaze waver between what she saw and what she didn’t. “It seems we’ll have to work harder as a group in order to survive. I don’t know if the rest of the Cooperative would want to move once more to the Forest King’s castle. At the same time, our options are limited.”

Laz wrapped her arm around Veda’s waist and held her gently. “I suppose you’ll need to make a strong appeal for the Cooperative as a whole to persuade them to do so.”

Veda closed her eyes again. “I don’t know if I can do that. I was originally made to be a soldier and exterminator. Leadership was not something I wanted to do. In fact, I can’t think of anything I wanted to do as 2E other than my duty as 2E.”

Laz lifted her head to kiss the top of Veda’s. “If I may offer some advice, something I realized myself not too long ago; this is your chance to find out what you want to do. If it turns out it’s not to your liking, you can find something else. Renai and I will be there to support you, no matter what.”

All of a sudden, the weight Veda felt on her shoulders seemed a lot lighter. The tension in her back eased, her jaw unclenched, and her shoulders slumped. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

Then, the exhaustion she fought so hard against during the attack from the Shades returned in force as her eyes fluttered closed. “I’m so tired,” she murmured. 

Laz aware of Veda’s condition, held her close, and whispered in Veda’s hear, “rest then. You’ve done good.”

Veda did not need any more encouragement as her eyes finally closed and sleep took her. 

“Thank you, Laz,” another voice quietly said as Renai took delicate steps to make sure she would not wake Veda. She then sat on Veda’s other side and wrapped an arm of her own around Veda’s waist. 

“You’re welcome,” Laz answered just as quietly as all three of them allowed the moment to last as long as they could. And while it would not last, they would make sure they would never miss the opportunity when it came.

* * *

The Children grew more and became no longer Children, but People. 

Yet, they still desired the outside, though they were safe with the Servants. 

As the People came to be, the Servants began to wither and grow weak. 

Their purpose was still a question with no answer. 

The People desired answers that the Servants knew, but would not say. 

And as the Servants saw their end approach, they could no longer lie to themselves. 

They told the People the Truth. 


	18. Chapter 18

Thankfully, none of the Cooperative had been killed or seriously injured from the Shade attack. The stampede from several cycles earlier made them realize that anything could happen in a world as hostile as theirs. 

In a way, Veda was not surprised to see that the Cooperative was in agreement about joining the Conflict, their shaky past notwithstanding. They even asked the Twins and Pascal if they wanted to come, since it seemed that the Shades did not discriminate between potential targets. 

Veda was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of Laz opening the door to their room, which was going to be vacated soon. 

“I just got a call from Anemone’s camp,” Laz said, clearly concerned. 

“What about?” Veda got up from the bed. 

“It turns out that a faction of androids have requested a parlay with the Resistance. But, they want one of the Cooperative to be sent as an impartial third party.”

The request seemed so strange. “But,” Veda countered, “we’re not exactly partial, though. We have both misgivings and relations with the Resistance.”

Laz shrugged. “It is what they asked for. And Anemone made it abundantly clear that whoever volunteers will not be coerced to do so.”

“That’s a relief,” Veda said as she looked out the window briefly,” has this been spread to the rest of the Cooperative? 

“Yes.”

“Has anyone stepped up yet?”

Laz shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Most everyone is focused on beginning the move to the Forest Castle.”

Veda was quiet a moment. It seemed important enough for these mysterious androids to ask to meet someone they didn’t even know. It’s not like she had all that much incentive to go in the first place. It wasn’t any of their business. 

Yet. There wasn’t much for her to do here, either. Yes, she was the defacto voice of the Cooperative, however, it seemed like if she did then who would take her place while she was gone?

Laz picked up the thought and embraced her from the side. “If you want to go, then go. We’ll be fine. And we’ll be here when you return. Granted, in the castle, but we’ll still be here.”

Veda looked up to her a moment before she leaned in and embraced Laz back. Both Laz and Renai made the weight much easier for her to bear. 

“Thank you,” she said as she made up her mind, “I know I can’t fight anymore, but maybe I can do something like this for us all.”

Laz smiled and nodded. “It’s worth the effort, I think.”

“Alright,” Veda determined, “I’ll let Anemone know immediately.”

* * *

Camaxtli and Indra watched from one of the parapets the small procession of Cooperative nuHumans slowly march in through the gate and into the courtyard. 

“They’re really doing it, aren’t they?” Indra asked no one.

“At least they’ll be safer here,” Camaxtli hopped back into the tower and to the stairs. 

“In case you forgot,” Indra followed her irritably, “we are not exactly on the best of terms with them.”

“I haven’t,” Camaxtli threw a sour look in Indra’s direction as they continued down the stairs, “you were all hunting me, remember?”

Indra matched Camaxtli’s frown, but said nothing as they descended further. “Yes, because us just accepting the void you created was a more appropriate action.”

“I suppose it was too much for Shiva to just accept it and move on,” Camaxtli muttered irritably. 

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Indra said as she quickly stepped in front of Camaxtli to bar her path, “I have no idea how or why it didn’t affect you, but when you left, it felt like a part of us was ripped away. It hurt. It left us hurting because we were all reborn from the same source.”

Camaxtli was quiet a moment before she answered, “I didn’t feel like I belonged among the Conflict.”

Indra’s anger dissipated quickly as she looked to the side. “I won’t make any excuses for how we behaved when we first came along. However, we’re not killing each other repeatedly anymore.”

Camaxtli recognized that and whispered, “it is a start, I suppose.”

Indra looked back to her and said, “it’s just... until we figure out how our connection works more thoroughly,” she paused as if she struggled to continue, “please stay.”

Curious, Camaxtli walked up to her, reached up and gently took Indra’s head, and placed her forehead against Indra’s own. 

Immediately, she felt it. The memories of her departure that left the rest of the Conflict with such an ache that it had driven them to search for Camaxtli at all costs. It was incessant. Consuming. And it did not stop until they had reunited. 

It was quiet now and Camaxtli let go of Indra and stepped back, almost shocked at what she felt. 

“You didn’t need to do that,” Indra looked to the side, slightly embarrassed. 

“I know,” Camaxtli answered, “however, I,” she paused a second, “I need some time to think about what happened, why I left, and so on.”

Indra nodded. “Are you going to return to the tree again?”

Camaxtli nodded. “I’ve been finding old files that explain a lot about how YoRHa came to be. I’m also trying to find the memory the Gestalt Replicant. He is in there, somewhere.”

“What for?”

“Answers,” Camaxtli started down the stairs again with Indra at her side, “there is something wrong in the air. Something that wasn’t there before.”

Indra raised an eyebrow. “Can you go into specifics?”

Camaxtli shrugged helplessly. “I wish I could. But there’s a lot of questions in those records that don’t seem to contain any answers. At least, ones I haven’t found yet.”

Indra nodded. “Very well, I’ll inform the others. In the meantime, we should help the Cooperative settle in, since this is now their home as well.”

* * *

Shiva folded her arms and growled in the back of her throat. She sat on the throne where the cradle of that damn Machine Lifeform baby once was, but clearly felt uncomfortable there. 

She bounced her leg impatiently as she looked back at the comm console the androids gave her. She certainly didn’t mind it, since it allowed her to speak with Anemone a lot more easily. She huffed again and looked at the console to see if they got a signal. 

“Stop that,” Guan-di, the much taller and lithe spear woman with hair as long as she was tall, “it’s not going to answer, no matter how much you glare at it.” She sat on a patch of foliage and was as serene as the morning, until Shiva’s twitchiness had broken her out of her meditations. 

Shiva frowned at Guan-di before she stood and started to pace around the edge of the throne room. 

Guan-di sighed deeply. “Look, I understand, you’re anxious for a reply, but this is not going to help.”

“Fuck off,” Shiva grumbled half-heartedly as she leaned against a section of wall with a large gap right next to it. 

“Love you too,” Guan-di, no longer in a state for meditating, sat backward with one leg cross over the other, “so, you think the androids will follow through?”

“Fuck if I know?” Shiva answered casually, as she peeked over to see the group of Cooperative nuHumans form various groups to start the rebuilding process for the castle as they settled in. 

“Having second thoughts about the Cooperative?” Guan-di asked as she leaned on her spear. 

“No,” Shiva answered simply, “just don’t know if this will work or not, is all.”

“And what’s the worst that could happen?” Guan-di was curious, as she did not feel the same. 

Shiva frowned. “We kick them out. This is our place and that’s not going to change.”

“Even with the Shades attacking and all?” 

Shiva was suddenly quiet. 

Guan-di adjusted herself so she sat against the wall. “Well, I suppose that’s a proverbial bridge for us to cross if or when it comes.”

“It means that we gotta find out who’s behind all these Shades attacking and soon. That’s why we’re helping the androids in the first place, remember?” 

“I haven’t forgotten,” Guan-di looked up through the shadows of the leaves that danced over her head, “the question is; who’s going to go and who’s going to stay on guard duty?”

“Me, Mars, Jarovit, Beg-tse, and Hadur,” Shiva answered promptly. She had thought about this in advance. 

Guan-di shrugged at the fact she was not to go, but she wasn’t really enthused with the idea of looking for something or something that may or may not even exist.

“No Camaxtli?” Guan-di realized after a moment. 

“No,” Shiva answered tersely, “she and I don’t get along at all.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Guan-di smiled subtly. 

“That’s her problem, not mine,” she growled.

Guan-di’s smile faded. “You realize she is getting more powerful. Yes, she can create, but I’m starting to feel her capable of doing much more.”

“I’m aware,” Shiva answered angrily with her arms folded and her gaze straight ahead.

“So, what happens if, or when, she becomes so powerful that she can leave us again and we can’t stop her?”

“We-“ she was interrupted when the console came to life. Shiva dropped everything and picked up the receiver. 

“Yeah?”

“Shiva?” Came Anemone’s voice on the other end.

“It’s me. What’s up?” Shiva answered, quietly glad that it was her instead of one of those damn obnoxious comm units with sticks up their robotic asses. 

“Aster just finished speaking with the rest of the CCC; your request is going to be fulfilled. Half up front and the other half on completion,” Anemone said, clearly elated with the news and made Shiva’s heart skip a beat, though she wouldn’t admit it. 

“Deal,” she answered with a grin on her face, more excited about the prospect of being with Anemone again. When the line cut, she put the receiver back and strode out of the throne room to get the others. 

“Hmph,” Guan-di muttered as she got to her feet, “the things one does to get laid.” Then again, she wasn’t in any position to judge, given how much she enjoyed herself with one of the girls from the Indulgence. 

Minor details, either way. 

* * *

“Shiva?” Veda blinked in surprise when she entered the Resistance camp, which had become a base since she was there last. 

“Oh, it’s you,” Shiva said as she turned to her, “what brings you here?”

“I am going to be a representative for the Cooperative. Another android faction wants to meet with us,” Veda answered calmly. 

“Huh,” Shiva leveled her eyes, “we’re trying to find out where all those damn Shades are coming from. The androids promised us supplies and assistance in rebuilding the castle if we helped.”

“That is good to hear,” Veda answered back, “it will help us settle in more easily in.”

“Well,” Shiva grumbled with her arms folded, “just don’t let it go to yours or any of the other Cooperatives’ heads. It’s our place and don’t forget it.”

Veda nodded, apathetic to the harsh tone in Shiva’s voice, “we won’t.”

Satisfied, Shiva was ready to join the other members of the Conflict when Veda spoke up again. 

“Shiva, I have something to ask of you,” Veda said, somewhat apprehensive. 

“What?” 

Veda hesitated a moment, but then continued. “Could we speak directly?” She held out her hand, which indicated how she wanted to communicate. 

Shiva paused for a moment, looked up to her, and then back down to the hand. Granted, she had no real reason to deny or accept it, however, she was curious. 

“Sure,” she reached out and took Veda’s hand in her own. 

Both of their minds connected and, immediately, time seemed to slow to everyone but them. 

_What is it?_ Shiva asked as she looked briefly to see a pair of androids heft up a crate full of supplies remain still. 

_I wanted to apologize._ Veda seemed downcast. 

It caught Shiva by surprise. _What for?_

_9S. When we last met, I saw what happened to him, but it never occurred to me just how far gone he was at the time. _

Shiva slowly calmed and joined in her mood. _ I get it. You wanted me to help him let you go. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. _

_After all the times I murdered him, it’s a bit surprising to see that he still wanted to be with me. Not to mention he murdered you because of me. _

Shiva stopped cold for a moment._ I... I want to blame you for that, but I’m not so sure I can anymore. He made his choice. _

_Shiva, I..._

_Listen, you want to start over since we’re no longer who we once were. So do I. So, let’s leave the past where it is. And I think 9S would have wanted it that way once he found out the truth about, well, everything. _

The two minds slowly came closer as a warmth that was never there before began to grow. 

_I’d like that. A lot. _

_Me too. _

The silence between them was comfortable and welcoming. 

_By the way, one of us felt something off among you guys when we passed through the village last. _

_Oh?_

_Yeah. It may not be any of my business, but, are any of you... like... Shiva struggled. _

_What?_

_Pregnant! There! I said it! Are any of you fuckers in the Cooperative pregnant?!_

Veda paused a bit, surprised at how flustered Shiva became. 

_I believe so. But, how did you know?_

_Another one of the Conflict could smell it when we passed through. I’m not sure what to make of it. _

_Well, yes, _Veda admitted,_ we are trying to reproduce, if we can, that is. We’re not sure if it will work or not, but that’s what we are aiming for. _

_Well, fine. Just don’t expect us to deal with the shit that comes with it!_

Veda’s smile slowly grew as she nodded. _Don’t worry. We’ll handle it. _

They slowly let go of each others’ hands and watched the world gradually catch up with them. 

“Be careful,” Shiva said as she turned around to walk about, “you hear me?”

Veda smiled a bit and nodded. “I will.”

* * *

“Oh,” Laz suddenly stopped in her tracks as she and Renai unpacked the last box of their few possessions. 

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Renai looked up as she straightened a rug. 

“Nothing is wrong,” Laz said as she looked down to her stomach. Slowly, her hand cupped the curve of her abdomen and, to her surprise, felt the first sparks of... something that had manifested within her. It was minute and she almost missed it, but it was there. She could feel it.

Curious, Renai stepped beside Laz and quickly came to a realization. “It worked?”

Laz turned to her and beamed. “I believe so.”

Renai started to breathe quickly in excitement before a new thought came to mind, “oh, should we let Veda know?”

“Naturally,” Laz let loose the breath she held in longer that she realized and returned to her task, “though, we should probably wait until she returns. I recall that her current endeavor relies on secrecy.”

Renai bobbed her head eagerly. “Is it going to be anything like in the texts from the Old World?”

Laz’s elations quickly evaporated at the realization that the world they currently lived in. She shook her head. “I don’t believe so. After all, in the Old World, there was a natural day and night cycle. We don’t have that. Not to mention there was a stable society of humanity for them to grow. We are,” she paused briefly, “not a usual case.”

Determined not to let the mood dampen, she threw her arms around Laz’s waist, stood on her tip toes and kissed her cheek. “That’s ok. You have Veda and me. And the rest of the Cooperative. And, if things go well, the Conflict too. I think we’ll be alright.”

Laz smiled warmly back at her and reciprocated the gesture. For a terrifying moment, she felt as though she was the only one that would have to experience this. Thankfully, Renai was there to remind her of where she was and who she was with. 

“Should we let the others know?”

“Eventually. For now, let’s keep this to ourselves,” she leaned her head atop Renai’s, “if that’s no bother.”

Renai giggled. “I should be the one asking you that.”

They stayed comfortably silent for another moment to process the event and bask in each others’ warmth. 

“I should head back to help the others finish unpacking,” Renai reluctantly pulled away from Laz.

“That’s fine, I need some time to think about this myself anyways,” Laz stepped back and sat on their shared bed, which was left there by the Machine Lifeforms, even though none of them were known to sleep. 

Renai nodded. “Right. I’ll be back later,” she said as she skipped towards the door before she realized what she did and straightened herself out to maintain the illusion that nothing new happened. 

Laz smiled humorously as the door shut and then moved herself backwards on the bed against the wall. For a moment, she looked down to her stomach and once more held her palm against it. 

There it was. Faint and slight. But there. 

A new life. Possibly a completely new lifeform had developed in her body. 

There was a slight fear in the back of her mind at the prospect of her not only giving birth, but probably being the first to do so. The idea that she would birth the first human to ever walk the Earth in so long had a bit of weight she did not initially consider. 

However, she had made this choice. She wanted this. And, she had to remind herself, she was not alone. 

It made the prospect almost exciting. 

* * *

“Devola,” Popola looked up from the notes in the room she and her twin had taken for themselves. Something was wrong. 

Devola put her drink down and leaned on the table with a languid smile, “hm?”

She paused a second. “No. It’s nothing.” And went back to her notes, but with a free hand, gestured for her twin to approach her quietly with sign language. 

Confused, Devola got up and padded over to the side of her other half’s desk. With a free hand, Popola moved a data sheet over to the side, out her her line of sight and with said hand, typed quietly. 

_Devola. We’re being watched. Rather, someone is watching through me. _

The other twin’s eyes widened a bit as she then took Popola’s hand and wrote out the signal with her index finger, an encrypted communication method made especially for their models of androids. 

_How do you know?_

_I almost missed it, but there have been streams of visual data that I’ve been transmitting surreptitiously. It’s almost the same as the general comm signals among the android factions. _

_What makes this one different?_

_It doesn’t match anything currently known among all the android factions. Also, the data packets are sent to a destination that is not on the normal comm grid. _

_When did this start to happen?_

_When that android, Amaryllis, updated my software. _

_Could I be infected too?_

_I don’t think so. Or at least, I hope not. _

_So, what do we do?_

_For now, nothing. I don’t want to chance the possibility that whomever Amaryllis answers to, knows that we’re aware and installed other possible measures that would do us harm. _

_Dammit. Alright. But the instant we figure out how to remove that subroutine, it’s out. I’m not going to let this take us back to the way things were. _

* * *

The Servants were frail and near their end. 

The People had grown to love and care for the Servants. 

One day, the Servants told the people The Truth, prepared for the worst. 

However, to their surprise, the People still loved them and thanked them for helping them. 

At first, the Servants were afraid that once the People knew the Truth, they would kindle their anger against them.

The Servants wept as they felt their life begin to slip away. 

Quietly, the People held the hands of the Servants as they breathed their last. 


	19. Chapter 19

Veda sat calmly in the transport craft as it flew over the ocean. The window at her side showed the vast range of clouds that covered the horizon as the sun peeked through holes on occasion. It never occurred to her how awe inspiring it was, mostly because every time she had flown over it as YoRHa, she was in the middle of a mission. While it was true she was on another mission, this was different.

There was, hopefully, no conflict to engage in. Everything Anemone and Aster informed her about the Australian Automata Alliance was not encouraging. 

They were a faction of androids that, after they had learned of humanity’s initial extinction, decided to strike out on their own. They had made it abundantly clear they had no desire to attempt at humanity’s resurrection nor engage with the other android factions. It was only after the invasion of the aliens and the Machine Lifeforms did they openly collaborate with the other android factions to safeguard Earth. 

It made her wonder; just how far had an android civilization progressed in their particular circumstances?

“Attention,” the automated pilot announced from the cockpit, “we are approaching the Autonomous Frontier. We will be landing shortly.”

Veda looked out the window and sure enough, in the distance there was a floating outpost that the AAA had developed themselves. 

It was noticeably spread out with many smaller structures, connected by multilayered and reinforced pathways. The most noticeable features were the many, many windmills, solar panels, and turbines partially submerged to generate power. 

She had never seen such a thing, even in her past life, and was astounded at the sheer contrast between the androids here and the once’s back at the city. 

Here, the air was open and clear with the ubiquitous wind that fluttered the flags that hung from high standing poles. 

Back at the city, there was a palpable sense of heaviness that she could not quite put to words. 

The transport slowly descended and hovered briefly on the landing pad before it settled down and the engines turned quiet. 

Veda stood up from her seat and followed the path down the gangway. She fought against the chill in the wind, as she saw three individuals emerge from the edge of the platform. 

In front of what appeared to be two guards, walked Grevillea, the diplomat Veda was informed she was to speak with. 

She was not sure if there was any real protocol for her to follow, so, she stood still as her hosts approached. 

“Greetings,” Grevillea said cordially but with a noticeable accent that once belonged to the peoples of the Southern Seas, “welcome to the North of Aotearoa, sub-state of the Australian Automata Alliance.”

Veda nodded back as politely as she hold. “I am Veda, Voice of the Cooperative.”

“We have been informed of your arrival and are grateful for your cooperation,” he stepped to the side and gestured to the building he and the guard emerged from, “shall we be off?”

Veda nodded and followed his lead. 

*

Camaxtli felt her patience grow thin. 

She had come to this damn tree more times than she could count. Even finding other consoles littered throughout the bark of the ‘tree’ that seemed to hold memories of a distant time.

At least she felt she had closed in on the answers she searched for. 

She typed furiously on the keyboard for what felt like hours before she stretched her back a moment. 

This had become monotonous long before this point and she was ready to just leave it and let the androids dissect it for all she cared. 

Finally, at what seemed to be a directory in the deepest core of the database, she noticed what could only have been a program that seemed to be quite different than the others. 

In fact, the user interface indicated that it was still in operation. She looked up to the tree and back to the screen. That didn’t make much sense. 

The name of the file also made little sense either. 

Safekept.

Curious, she accessed the program and to her surprise, she heard the sound of something within the core of the tree turn on. 

She stood up and stepped back as, to her relief, Nier materialized again in front of her. 

“Oh,” he appeared genuinely surprised, “you’ve returned.”

Camaxtli nodded. “I have questions.”

Nier seemed a bit apprehensive, but knew this was meant to happen. 

“First of all, you tried to tell me something a while ago. What was it?”

He was still a moment before he looked down. “The androids are in danger. And it’s all my fault.”

Camaxtli frowned. “Wait,” she said with a raised hand, “slow down, start from the beginning.”

Nier looked up to her, his gaze dire. “When I ruined Project: Gestalt, there was panic among the rest of the Replicants when there was no more children were born.”

“I figured as much,” Camaxtli whispered. 

“Some of them were angry at the androids for what they thought was a deception of who they were and what they tried to do,” he began, “some even wanted to fight them, well aware that there was little that could be done. Given the Black Scrawl had gotten worse among the rest of the population, many just wanted to do something.”

“I don’t suppose you know if there have been Replicants that were still alive after the Project was finished?”

He shook his head. “They just stopped appearing. Why?”

Camaxtli looked him straight in the eye. “Shades have reappeared. And there are a lot of them.”

It caught Nier off guard. “I don’t see how that could be possible. We even checked with other Replicants across the world.”

“Did you ever find the facilities the Replicants came from?”

“No, the androids hid them too well for us to locate them.”

Camaxtli furrowed her brow in thought before a random thought came to mind. “How did you end up here?”

Nier shrugged. “When we disrupted the Project, Kaine was about to succumb to the Shade that was part of her. And, I suppose it was how I felt for her that I,” he held up his hands for a second as if to find the right words, “I sacrificed my existence to save her. I was, in a sense, forgotten.”

Camaxlti remembered the video from a previous visit. “Not completely, though.”

“No,” Nier smiled warmly at the memory, “turns out Kaine didn’t completely forget and eventually, found her way here and brought me back.”

“How long did you all live together?”

Nier almost sighed wistfully. “Forty long, but wonderful years,” his smile slowly faded, “But, when Kaine passed, everything fell apart. Emil wanted to explore more and Yonah had developed a very rebellious streak in her. She also wanted to fight the androids after she found out the details of the Project.”

“What happened to her?”

Nier looked down as sorrow darkened his gaze. “She ran away and I never saw her again. Most likely she succumbed to the Black Scrawl and became a Shade.”

“And you?”

“I believe I was alone when I was in my last illness. The town was barren and deserted, and when I fell asleep, I found myself back here.”

“Then I woke you up,” Camaxtli finished. Then, she sat down and held her palm to her face in thought, “we’re missing something, but what?” She whispered to herself more than him. 

“I don’t follow,” Nier stated from what he overheard. 

“Someone or something is releasing the Shades. And whoever it was clearly had information about the Project.”

“A rogue android?” 

“That’s possible, but what kind would send them after us and their own?”

“A very reasonable question,” a new voice from behind said as someone shoved several metal bars through Camaxtli’s back, shoulders and neck. 

“It’s a shame you found this place, given how rare humans are now,” the newcomer said with clear disappointment as Camaxtli’s vision started to go dark, “but, I suppose it’s your natural curiosity that brought you to this end anyway.”

She looked to her right to see a woman in a red and brown cloak with gold tassels kneel beside her. When she tried to speak, the women held her finger up. “Shhh. It’s almost over. And not even the natural regeneration the Conflict has will be able to save you this time,” she smiled wickedly, “sleep well.”

Camaxtli struggled to keep herself alive, but the bars that held her in place were too solid and too many for her to keep up. Eventually, her grip on the bars went slack and she went limp. 

*

Shiva, Mars, Jarovit, Beg-tse, and Hadur each walked off the transport and onto the sand of the shore. Whatever settlement once was there had long since been wiped away by nature over the years. 

Jarovit, adorned in leathers she had found in the castle, knelt into the sand and grabbed a handful of it. “It’s different than the kind back at the arena.”

Mars said nothing as she walked towards the remains of what could have been the foundation of a home, but there was so little that it was impossible to know what function it could have had. Regardless, she started to sift through the sand and rocks that littered the plot of land. 

Beg-tse looked to back to the paths that lead further inland. “There was definitely a town here. Or a port. Even after all this time, the caves there were not made naturally.”

Shiva leveled her eyes irritably. “All right, knock it off. We’re trying to find where those damn Shades came from, not figure out if anyone lived here.”

Hadur, pulled the metal hood back from her helmet and smiled a bit. “Oh, let them. It’s a nice change from the castle and the desert.”

Shiva snorted. “Whatever,” and walked along the edge of the shore as the waves continued their ebb and flow to search for tracks. 

Casually, Hadur dragged her axe in the sand as she accompanied Shiva. “So, if or when we find the source of the Shades, what do we do then?”

“We’ll let the androids take care of them. It’s not our business,” Shiva did not look up and kept her eyes on the sand to notice any discrepancies. 

Hadur’s smile faded. “I’m not so sure of that. Remember, the Shades were human once.”

“Emphasis on once,” Shiva growled, “humans have been dead for thousands of years.”

“Maybe they’re upset because they think we’ve come to replace them,” Hadur shrugged. 

Shiva looked up to Hadur with narrowed eyes and a deep frown. “The fuck are you so chatty today?”

Hadur did not seem to notice. “Seems like a good a time as any.”

“Look, I don’t give a fuck what those things think. Same with the androids. I just want to get this done so we can actually get the fucking castle fixed and establish a home,” Shiva’s eye twitched. 

“And get to fucking your android girlfriend,” Mars shouted from the hole she started to dig with her sword. 

Shiva was ready to march right back and punch Mars’ face in for that when Beg-tse and Jarovit voiced their agreement. 

She growled and raked her hands over her face in frustration. She could not believe these people. Her sex life was none of their business! If they wanted some action, they’d have to do it themselves or go to the Indulgence!

“Huh,” Hadur said as she pointed further down the shore, “think that may have something?”

Shiva whirled around and sure enough, there was the foundation of what could have been a taller structure at the edge of a inlet of the cove. 

“That’s odd,” Shiva muttered, “there’s nothing else around here save for a bunch of ruins. That doesn’t seem to be as worn as everything else.” She looked a bit closer before she started to make towards the structure with Hadur close behind. 

When they reached the edge, Shiva stopped in her tracks when she found what she had initially looked for. 

Indents in the sand that led from the large door to the structure. There was a lot of them. And they didn’t look like anything an android could have made. 

Hadur noticed the tracks and paused. “I think we found the source.”

“Call the others,” Shiva said as she looked up to the remaining walls that once held up what could have been a lighthouse. But, there was something off about it. 

Hadur turned around quickly and ran back to retrieve their companions. 

Shiva knelt down and traced her finger in the indents of the sand. The Shades had definitely come from here. Her eyes looked back to the wall as she let her mind wonder briefly just how those things were able to come from here in the first place. If Camaxtli was right, then, the Shades didn’t just come from nowhere. Something or someone had released them. 

The other four Conflict with her, she walked up to the door, raised her foot, and kicked it in. 

“I knew it,” Shiva whispered as she saw the pristine passageway widen out deeper underground. The only source of illumination were the lights that were arranged in blocks on the walls and ceiling. 

She turned to the others. “You ready?”

They all nodded. Whatever the source of the Shades were, the answer was not likely to be a pleasant one. 

Their footfalls echoes louder than they wanted to as they descended into the hallway for what felt like hours. 

Jarovit sniffed the air. “This place is sealed tight. I can’t smell the ocean at all.”

Beg-tse’s gaze wavered between the lights and the floor. “Whoever crafted this was not all that discreet. I’m surprised the Androids did not come investigate this themselves.”

Hadur kept her grip on her axe tight as she felt slightly uncomfortable with the descent and how far the entrance was. “They got enough problems as it is. It’s not like they can create more androids and send them out.”

Shiva did not turn back as she kept her gaze forward. “They can. Most of the androids were created in a factory in South Africa. It’s how they were able to spread out as much as they did.”

Hadur frowned. “Then why ask us?”

“Fuck if I know,” Shiva fought against the violent urges she often wanted to exhibit, but refrained, “that leader of theirs was thinking a lot and I’m sure she has more favors to ask us.”

“It’s not entirely a bad thing,” Hadur said as she took the occasional look back to the entrance to see how far they had traveled. 

“No,” Shiva admitted, “but I still don’t like it when people don’t say everything they want. It pisses me off.”

“Are you really,” Beg-tse began, but stopped when she and the rest of them noticed a dead end that seemed to come out of nowhere. 

“What the fuck?” Shiva exclaimed as she walked up to the wall and kicked it as hard as she could, but nothing budged. 

“Well,” Hadur, noted, taken off guard, “I didn’t expect that.”

“What was the fucking point,” Shiva growled as she whirled around and leaned against the wall. 

“It makes no sense,” Mars whispered to herself as she examined the wall off of Shiva’s right, “the tracks came from here and there were no other passages.”

Beg-tse looked down and knelt on the ground to run her hand over a crease she had found. “You may not be far off,” she said before she whipped her ball and chain out and slammed it as hard as she could on the crease. 

Sure enough, metal plates gave way and all five of them hopped away as the floor collapsed into what should have been a flight of stairs down to a new tunnel. 

This time, however, there was a much brighter set of lights that started to bring more illumination into the tunnel. 

All five of them looked to each other before they drew their weapons and proceeded to climb down the stairs and into whatever it was that awaited them. 

*

“Are you serious?” Veda asked incredulously. 

Grevillea nodded direly. “Yes. We had our researchers look over this code repeatedly. Their conclusions were absolute.”

Veda looked down at the diagram she had been shown by her host. 

On the data pad, there was a report that someone, or something, had infiltrated the neural network of the entire android populace with a lethal, and nigh untraceable, trojan virus that was literally woven into the upgrade protocols.

The worst part was that it did not originate from the Machine Lifeforms. 

“How long has this malignant strain been integrated into the neural network?” Veda asked, fear etched over her face. 

“We don’t know,” Grevillea was stoic and still, but even Veda could tell that he was troubled, “what we do know is that the code hasn’t been activated yet. There’s no indication as to what will trigger it.”

Veda knew she was not at risk, but someone clearly wanted all the androids dead if they had the inclination to go this far. 

“Are there any leads to a possible culprit?”

“One,” Grevillea took out another data pad from his jacket and placed it on the table next to the first one, “this android was last spotted, according to public record, millennia before the aliens arrived. We were fortunate we got this image of them, because the agent that took this picture was violently disassembled immediately after the image was sent to us.”

It appeared to be a woman, with eyes that shone gray, gilded silver hair, and colored in a black, white, and blue robe. The smile on her face did not indicate any kindness in her. 

She looked familiar. 

“Does she have a name?”

“Yes; Lunar Tear.”

*

The Servants confessed that the Slave Master that had abducted them when they were children was their own Master. Their Creator. Their Father.

In tears, they confessed that they did not desire the Children to leave, because the Slave Master had forced cruelties onto both of them. 

Shocked, the People understood now what had happened and felt betrayed. 

In silence, they left the Servants. 


	20. Chapter 20

The lights ahead of them were not blinding, however, Shiva had to squint her eyes somewhat in order to see the laboratory that expanded out in front of them all. It was sophisticated enough for anyone part of the android factions, however, what gave them all pause was the clear cages of Shades that were lined up in rows. 

Muffled screeches and roars, with futile attempts at escape, evidenced their captivity with worn scratches and the occasional warp of the see through walls. 

“What is this?” Hadur whispered, aghast at what they all saw. 

Directly in front of them, a Shade that was taller than most, struck its head repeatedly against the cage fruitlessly. 

In another, a smaller one with four arms, tried to claw its way through the glass. 

In yet another, a pair of conjoined Shades threw pieces of debris against the wall. 

“There’s an access terminal over here,” Beg-tse said as she went over to the console nearest by the entrance, “I’ll see what I can find.” She turned on the user interface and found it archaic, but easy enough to use, especially since was an Operator turned Battle unit in her previous life. 

“Sure,” Shiva said as she walked up to an empty cell, but splattered with copious amounts of blood that left very visible marks on the walls, “better get a copy of what you can, since I don’t want to stay here too long.”

Beg-tse nodded and started to transmit data over to the frequency Anemone had given Shiva to speak with them. It was thankfully encrypted, so, whoever it was that ran the place would not know where it was sent. If they bothered to check. 

“So,” Hadur started, “if these Shades were human once, does that mean someone had held humans here until they transformed?”

“I don’t think so,” Jarovit walked back from a room that would have held documentation but was as barren as the town above, “if anything, whoever did this knew that these Shades would be the end result.”

“For what purpose, though?” Hadur asked back, still unsettled at the sight of a Shade that tried to beat itself through the cage to escape. 

Shiva stood still to hear every detail and closed her eyes. She could hear a machine of some sort whirl to life. She opened her eyes as she said, “we might find out in a moment.”

“Well, this is interesting,” a voice observed over the PA system, “last time I was aware, no one knew of this location.”

All of them drew their weapons, ready to fight. 

“Show yourself!” Shiva roared over the subdued sounds of struggle from the Shades. 

“No,” they answered curtly, “even if I was there, I have more pressing business to attend to. Besides, I have no quarrel with you.”

That statement caused everyone but Shiva to blink in and look to each other. 

Shiva, on the other hand, was not. “Fuck that! When we find you, I’m gonna gut you like a fish!”

The stranger sighed audibly and then a holographic display appeared in front of the rest of them. 

She looked familiar to Shiva for some reason. 

The stranger was a grown woman who wore a white robe, much like Anemone’s, with black trim and blue tassels. Her hair was gilded silver and her eyes were a very notable gray. 

“Is there nothing I can do to convince you to leave as you came and speak of nothing of what you’ve seen?” She asked in an almost conciliatory voice. 

Shiva frowned deeper. “Considering you sent those things,” she pointed to the Shades with her lance, “on us, don’t fucking count on it!”

The woman did not appear phased. “That was not my intention,” her calm facade faded to darken somewhat dangerously, “nor were you the target.”

It was a fact that did not pass by Mars. “The androids,” she said with a uncomfortable certainty. 

The stranger nodded. “Yes, but enough of that. Leave. Now.”

Shiva stabbed her lance into the floor and snarled, “you’re not really in a position to tell us what to do, bitch.”

“I suppose not,” the strange said calmly, but slowly her tone turned dark, “so, it stands to reason that I may need to resort to more drastic measures.”

Klaxons screamed throughout the facility as several of the cages opened and the Shades stepped out. At the same time, the doors to the facility began to close. In response, Mars and Hadur fought against the pack that had reached them first as Jarovit and Shiva went to the entrance to break to doors to keep them open. 

“I had hoped for a more amicable relationship with you and the Cooperative in the near future, but alas, it seems I’ll have to settle for the latter,” she started to frown as another voice announced over the PA system. 

“ATTENTION: CORE FAILSAFES DISABLED. MELTDOWN IMMINENT. ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE TO THE NEAREST EXIT.”

“Beg-tse!” Shiva yelled.

“Got it!” She yelled back as the last of the data she had transffered had completed the feed back to their comm station in the castle. They could go over it later. For now, they had to escape. 

“Struggle all you like,” the stranger said, her veneer of calm back in place, “and I know the Conflict are capable of hyper-accelerated regeneration to continue fighting. Yet,” she tilted her head as her right eye twitched, “you can’t regenerate if there is nothing left in the first place. Good bye.”

The lack of power cut the transmission as the lights began to flicker. A rumble shook the lab as all five of them made a break for the exit as fast as they could. Behind them, hordes of Shades gave chase, apathetic to the situation at hand as they pursued like a pack of feral beasts. 

The first explosion shook the foundations of the laboratory and almost knocked Shiva and her companions off of their feet, yet, continued to run as fast as they could. 

The screams of the Shades were quickly downed out by the blaze that quickly caught up and consumed them one by one. 

Shiva screamed as they flame crawled around them as the doorway to the outside came within view. She then leaped forward, immediately followed by the others as a literal geyser of flame burst from the entrance. 

Each of them short on breath looked back to see another rumble from beneath the ocean. Sure enough, a new plume of smoke and fire burst from the water where the laboratory once was. 

Shiva was about to let herself lie in the sand when she heard the whir of something new. It was in the rock formations nearby. 

“Scatter!” She ordered and all of them made a dash toward elsewhere as a high velocity slug struck the ground and exploded where Shiva was a second before. 

“Fucking son of a bitch!” Shiva seethed as she and Mars took shelter behind the remains of the tower. 

“Think whoever that was knew we were coming?” Mars asked as another bullet shot through the rock and into the water, which gave them both the fact that their hiding place was not safe.

“Wouldn’t surprise me!” Shiva answered back as she and Mars dashed out in different directions to somewhere, hopefully, safer. 

Hidden in the rocks, near the entrance, Amaryllis reloaded her sniper rifle dispassionately before she aimed again and let loose another volley. If pressed, she would have been impressed with these nuHumans and their ability to dodge her shots. Yet, she had a job to do and she would do it. Also, she had more patience and ammunition than they had stamina. It was only a matter of time. 

The click of a gun gave her pause as a barrel set against the back of her head. Someone had found her. In fact, several someones had found her. She could hear the rustle of several other soldiers behind them both. 

“Amaryllis,” Anemone said as she pulled back the hammer on her personal magnum, “I was surprised to see you at my camp not too long ago. You really should have stayed longer for us to catch up.”

Ahead, the Conflict had noticed she had stopped firing and Shiva was directly in her sights. She narrowed her eyes in the scope and was about to pull the trigger when Anemone’s gun pushed further into the back of her head. 

“You pull that trigger and I will dissect everything in your hard drives and backups for everything and everyone to see,” the menace in Anemone’s voice was real and Amaryllis quickly knew that she would not be able to fulfill her mission. Just like Lily. 

“Very well,” she said as she slowly put the rifle down, stood, and held her hands up, “I surrender.”

“Glad to hear,” Anemone answered as two soldiers undid her backpack and then bond her hands behind her back. 

Amaryllis did not struggle as she was bound and her weapons removed. Nevertheless, she remained impassive as she looked Anemone in the eye as she was taken away, “it won’t matter, though. You can’t stop what’s been put in motion.”

Anemone said nothing in return as Amaryllis was taken away. In fact, she was not at all surprised to hear it from her of all people. She was once one of the ‘reasonable’ members of the Bouquet, after all. 

*

Veda stepped down from the transport as quickly as she could as she felt the data module in her pocket again. It was meant to be given to anyone within the chain of command at the CCC, since Lunar Tear had eyes and ears everywhere. 

At first, she felt incredulous at the idea that an android of any stripe would go to such lengths to murder all the others. She was reminded that the Australian Automata Alliance had deviated from the singular directive all androids once had. 

In a sense, it was like androids had developed the sentience and free will of humanity itself over the years, both good and bad. And all of that was in danger. 

She strode through the landing field and towards the terminal that the androids had recently constructed to make it easier to reach the Resistance Base to the shore of the drowned city that would, hopefully, become a port someday. 

“Oh, hello, ma’am,” the driver of the transport cab, a small and stubby repair mechanic, greeted her cheerfully, “to the base?”

She nodded. “Yes, please.” She didn’t want to show any urgency, since the AAA made her consider if she was currently observed at that very moment. 

She took a seat on the cushions near the back and watched the cityscape pass by quickly. How long ago was it that the city had been populated by humans? Or androids for that matter? The thought of another conflict for her to get engaged in made her tired. She had fought enough over the years. 

She looked down to her pocket for a moment before she looked back and let the wind ruffle her hair. It had grown past her shoulders, she realized. Everything that had happened had left her so distracted that she never noticed that her hair was no longer a static mop of cooling follicles, meant to release excess heat whenever she was in combat. 

She reached up and idly twirled a few silver colored strands as she considered, briefly, to dye it a different color. Yellow was out of the question, as Laz and Renai already had their hair such a color for now. Perhaps magenta? She smiled a bit at the thought. It would contrast nicely with the seemingly dull and overly practical camos and cloaks they had to wear. 

The question was; how would she go about getting it colored? She was sure the camp probably had some compounds that could get the shade she desired. 

It was odd. The idea of something so plain and common as dying her hair seemed far more exciting than it ever did when she was YoRHa.

She liked it. 

“Here we are, ma’am,” the driver said as the cab decelerated and came to a stop at the back of the base. 

“Thank you, again,” she repeated as she got up and walked out towards what she hoped would be a quick and decisive end towards the current ordeal she found herself in the middle of. 

Androids, currently busy with everything from construction, to repair, to logistics payed her no heed as she walked through the crowds to the heart of the base where Anemone’s office now resided. 

Upon reflection, however, her heart grew heavy at the prospect of hostile forces that would no doubt act again. 

The war was supposed to be over. Why did it continue? 

When she approached the door to where command resided, she stood still for the guards to recognize her. 

“You are expected,” the taller of the two guards said with a deep and gravelly voice as it stood aside.

“Thank you,” she answered as she walked through the entrance and into the hallway that led to where she remembered her meeting with Anemone before the base had covered the camp.

This would not end well.

*

Laz gasped as she tried to get to her feet from her desk as she felt her strength suddenly vanish. 

“You alright?” Tutu, another Cooperative member, who like Laz worked to ensure that their communications were clear to both the Resistance Base and any other Android factions that desired to speak with them, asked as she helped Laz to her feet.

Laz was not sure how to answer as she nodded, “my apologies. I think I need to leave for a moment.”

While a bit skeptical, Tutu acquiesced and let her leave the small room they had designated for their communications equipment.

Laz could not properly explain it, but she felt her breath a lot more difficult to come by as she walked out towards the open air courtyard in the heart of the castle. She panted as she finally set herself down on a bench that allowed her some semblance of shade. Unfortunately, the source of her exhaustion became more apparent as she felt a brief, but sharp, pain in her abdomen.

She held her torso hard and grit her teeth as the pain finally subsided. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead as she looked up to see the Twins run towards her.

“Ms. Laz,” Popola said urgently, “we were told what happened. Are you unwell?”

Laz knew that she could not really do the same with the Twins as she could with anyone else and shook her head. “For the past few cycles, I’ve felt overly exhausted, slightly nauseated, and faint at times.”

Devola took a seat beside her and gently took her hand to observe her vital signs. “Any pain?”

“Brief bouts of abdominal pain, but it passes quickly,” she closed her eyes and continued to breath heavily. 

The Twins looked to each other, wide eyed, before Popola knelt in front of her to say, “Ms. Laz, I don’t want to sat for sure until we can confirm, but I think it is very likely you are pregnant.”

Laz tilted her head to the side and sighed. “We hoped that was the case, but, like you, I want to confirm.”

Devola nodded. “If it is true and you are on your way to giving birth then,” she tried to finish her sentence, but looked to Popola as she completed the thought.

“This will be the first human born in millenia,” Popola grew quiet at the implications. If they could reproduce in this manner and could continue to do so, then the purpose of their creation would be fulfilled.

Laz looked to her stomach again for a moment before she turned to the Twins, “when I used to be YoRHa, I read a lot of literature about the subject. However, experiencing it myself is another matter altogether.” Excitement and trepidation were clearly evident on her face as the prospect of her family, grown larger, made her beam happily. 

Popola leaned over to get her attention as she asked, “if it’s no bother, we would like to work closely with you to observe. We also have data about how Replicants reproduced and it may prove helpful for us to utilize it.”

The offer took Laz off guard. “How closely were Replicants modeled after humans?”

Devola shrugged. “As close as our earlier models could make them. We don’t have all the details, but what we do have says that the only things that separated them was the possession of a soul and reproduction,” her countenance grew dim, “even the mortality rates were the same.”

Laz said nothing for a moment, she also remembered the many, many sections about how childbirth was a painful, and at times fatal, experience. It would have been a cruel joke if the Machine Lifeforms gave them this new life of theirs, only to have it be so easily cut off as humanity’s earlier incarnation was. 

Yet, she remembered Shiva’s statement about the Machine Lifeforms’ parting words.

‘For you.’

They had been able to adapt and survive in a world that had become as inhospitable as it was during the war. 

This was their chance to, hopefully, right the wrongs of their time as YoRHa. 

“Very well,” she looked to them both and smiled, “if it is no bother for you both, then I would gladly accept your help.”

Popola contained her excitement, but was interrupted when Devola embraced her dearly and swung her around with a holler. 

*

Amaryllis, deactivated, lay limp as four of her soldiers carried her away to the holding cell at the edge of the base grounds. 

Right behind her, Shiva and the other members of the Conflict briefed each other as the camp continued to move about them. 

“So, Lunar Tear has been doing a lot more than I thought,” Anemone muttered to herself, “and her lab was right there too. With the war going on, I wouldn’t have found it anyway.”

“You mean she might have more labs like that one?” Shiva asked, incredulous. 

“Tear was nothing if not thorough,” Anemone said as she looked out to the cityscape, “she always had a backup plan. And a backup of that backup.”

Beg-tse then had a horrid realization. “Then, it stands to reason she may have planned for an occasion if someone were to infiltrate the lab and take the data she had stored there?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Anemone turned to them and folded her arms, “either the data itself would be stagnant, out of date, or purposefully misleading.”

“You still want us to transmit it when we return to the Castle?”

Anemone nodded. “Please. Anything that could give us as much as a guess as to her location. If what Amaryllis said was correct, then, anything could happen and with as ruthless as Tear is, I’d rather not find out what.”

Shiva frowned as she asked, “did she ever fight against the Machine Lifeforms during the war?”

“Extensively,” Anemone answered as they walked back to the heart of the base, “she was able to provide the first countermeasures to the Logic Virus the Machine Lifeforms employed and for a time, a good number of our troops were immune to it. However, that advantage didn’t last long and when her Vaccine Protocols were rendered helpless, she went back to more conventional means of fighting.”

“Damn,” Shiva muttered, “I’ll bet some weren’t happy with her.”

Anemone was silent a moment before she nodded again. “Yes, she was initially hailed as a hero, but it wasn’t long before that turned around drastically. She eventually faded into the background as the war went on.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me that would be the reason for what she’s doing,” Mars observed as they all waited for the guards to clear their entry into the next level of the base.

“No,” Anemone countered, “I used to be a part of the Special Forces group she led and while our interactions were few and far in between, it was easy to see she is an old model. Really old. I would say almost as old as the Twin models. She was always quiet and only spoke to give orders received from higher up. Otherwise, she was, and maybe still is, very secretive and quiet.”

The door opened to show Veda in front of Aster’s desk. The latter had a data pad in her hands as she looked from between Veda, to the door, and back to the pad.

“Enter,” Aster ordered curtly, “and close the door.”

A bit surprised, Anemone ushered the Conflict into through the door and quickly sealed it.

“Ma’am,” Anemone quickly walked up to the desk, “what’s wrong?”

Aster frowned, turned the pad around and handed it to Anemone. “This.”

Anemone took the pad and as she skimmed the information, her eyes slowly went wide. “Wait, are you certain it was from her?”

Aster nodded. “The intelligence services from the AAA confirmed it.”

“What the fuck is wrong?” Shiva asked as she grew impatient.

Anemone turned back. “Looks like we know what Lunar Tear’s up to,” she looked down to the pad, “all members of the android factions share a similar operations core that enabled us to build, maintain, and upgrade ourselves as we saw necessary. According to this, Lunar Tear, somehow, was able to install a line of code so subtle that it’s almost impossible to find. It’s only purpose is to overload the sentience processors of all androids within proximity to one another after she activates the code. Not only will this result in shutting us down, but completely erasing everything that we were and are.”

While initially confused, Shiva quickly understood what Anemone meant as she whispered, “she wants to kill all the androids.”

*

The People’s soul was heavy and could not be comforted. 

The Servants had been false with them. 

In search of answers, they went to the place of conflict where the Master had fallen. 

The People saw the remnants of the Master and did not know whether to feel anger or pity.

Yet, they knew they had to return to the Servant, or else they would lose more of their past.


	21. Chapter 21

Veda, followed immediately by Shiva, looked up to the tree where it had once been the home of the former. Now abandoned, it seemed far more forlorn than when she and the rest of the Cooperative had found it.

They had persuaded Pascal to come with them, even with the odd look from one of the Conflict and with no one left, the village had quickly fallen into disrepair. 

“This is where she said she went last, right?” Veda turned to Shiva as they climbed up the path to the central promenade.

“Yeah,” Shiva answered as she looked around to make sure no Shades hid in wait for them, “she said she found something that was like some data storage unit, a really old one.”

After some time spent in search for the entrance, Veda noticed the open air passage that led deeper into the tree. “Could this be it?” she called to Shiva, who leaped up from the ground floor to the ledge Veda stood on.

“Fuck if I know, let’s look,” Shiva shrugged and walked in.

“It’s not like her to leave without saying anything,” Veda noted as they started to descend the pathway that led downward, “she gave her word.”

“Yeah,” Shiva admitted begrudgingly, “but the void’s come back and it’s been too long since she left.” The same void that had driven them to search for Camaxtli in the first place had begun to creep into their collective consciousness. In addition, the lack of contact weighed heavy on both Conflict and Cooperative.

It took longer than either of them expected as the pathway finally opened up to the large cavern that held the data tree Camaxtli had mentioned.

When they approached, they slowed down as horror overcame their features. 

The tree was in ruin. Electrical wires and destroyed frame stuck out at unnatural angles as the once bright lights of the tree that held humanity’s past lay damaged beyond repair. 

“Camaxtli!” Veda’s call echoed in the cavern over the sound of ruined machinery. 

Both of them idly walked up and around the tree until Shiva stood still at a set of metal spears that stuck into the ground. They didn’t seem to be connected to anything and she would have ignored it had she not noticed the splotches of blood on the metal and on the ground.

She knelt down in front of the pool of nearly dried blood and took a whiff. It was Camaxtli’s scent. In the direct proximity, she could also smell the artificial hemoplasma compound that androids used as part of their own power regulation systems.

“Someone else was here,” Shiva muttered as she stood up and turned to Veda, who peaked into the frame of the tree.

“Besides Camaxtli?” Veda asked as she turned back and walked to where Shiva stood.

“Yeah, an android. Might be one of those hostile ones that Camaxtli faced off against not too long ago.”

Veda was silent before she muttered, “which ones? They all seem hostile.”

It caught Shiva off guard, “what?”

Veda was about to deflect, but knew it would come out sooner or later. “When I met with the Australian Automata Alliance, what few androids I met outside of the ones I encountered were not entirely welcoming. Even the ones that were designated as my escorts were. . . Not entirely amicable.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Shiva grumbled as she got to her feet, “outside of Anemone, the Twins, and Pascal, I don’t see why any of the androids would give us the time of day.”

Veda’s heart felt heavy again. “It never occurred to me until now just what an anomaly we are. The Machine Lifeforms made us and to the androids, who knows what they feel about us.”

Shiva matched her silence, but then folded her arms. “Sometimes, after a good, long fuck with Anemone, I lie awake for about two seconds thinking about that. I got plenty of dirty looks from her people, but this whole thing with Lunar Tear and the Shades got them distracted. Either way, it’s not my problem.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t become our problem,” Veda said as she noticed the blood on the ground and the trail to another part of the cavern.

Curious, she followed the stains in the ground before it led to an alcove where she blinked and peeked inside. 

Curled up in a large, circular hole in the wall, Camaxtli rested peacefully in her cloak. On the ground, beneath her sleeping spot, a partially destroyed android lay against the wall, inert and most likely dead. 

The cloak she wore seemed familiar, but couldn’t really place it before she heard Camaxtli wake up and yawn. 

“Oh, you’re here,” Camaxtli said with a relieved smile as she slowly crawled out of the hole, “I’m sorry for my absence and not getting back to you.”

“We were worried, but,” she looked to the android corpse, “what happened?”

Camaxtli joined her to stare at the android, “Lunar Tear tried to have me killed. Just like she tried to have Shiva and the others killed at that laboratory.”

Veda turned to her in shock as Shiva joined them, “what for?”

“Lunar Tear, whoever they are, wants the Conflict out of the way. She believes that we’d just get in the way of what she’s after.”

“So far,” Shiva added in, “we know she wants to kill the androids, but us too? What’s her problem? And how did you know all this? You’ve been here for almost a week.”

Camaxtli inclined her head to the android. “She told me, well, sort of. After she almost killed me, I was able to convince her to let me know what she was doing.”

Shiva frowned. “Almost? Don’t be stupid, we can’t die. We were killing each other since we emerged.”

Camaxtli shook her head and looked her dead in the eye. “No. This was different. If anything, it shows that even our enhanced regeneration has its limits and she nearly ended me. And these androids know it,” she then extended her hand to the both of them, “would you let you me show you? It can explain what happened far better than I can through words.”

Shiva and Veda looked to each other for a moment before they both had to admit that this was the best way to learn what happened. After all, they could easily communicate words like this, why not memories too?

They both reached out and took her hand and immediately, they witnessed a recreation of what Camaxtli had experienced. 

_She looked to her right to see a woman in a red and brown cloak with gold tassels kneel beside her. When she tried to speak, the women held her finger up. “Shhh. It’s almost over. And not even the natural regeneration the Conflict has will be able to save you this time,” she smiled wickedly, “sleep well.”_

  
_Camaxtli struggled to keep herself alive, but the bars that held her in place were too solid and too many for her overloaded systems to keep up with. Eventually, her grip on the bars went slack and she went limp. _   
_She could feel the darkness creeping into her consciousness to escort her to oblivion. Yet, despite her grip on life slip through her hands, she did have enough grip to know she could still use her power. The power Emil had given her. The power to Create. _   
_Her body was too far gone to ever hope of escape, however, she still had the material on hand. Just like when she was chased by the Conflict and when she created the Covenant of Union for Veda, she mentally took hold of the material and with a final lunge, set out to create one last thing._

  
_Herself. _

  
_The atmosphere around her body exploded and hurled her assailant into the wall. Light pulsed from within as she slowly stood up and walked out from the metal bars as if they didn’t exist. The sclera in her eyes darkened as she turned to Jessamine, who was clearly caught off balance. However, she was not ready to surrender as she summoned several more to skewer her again. She turned once and commanded them to speed towards her target as if she had thrown them herself. _   
_ Camaxtli did not back down as she easily shifted to the side like a gentle gale to avoid them all and quickly close the distance between them._

  
_ Jessamine was about to scream when Camaxtli shoved both of her palms into the former’s stomach and, before the latter could react, summon additional energy to overload the circuits there. Half of her torso then exploded and the rest of her body fell unceremoniously to the ground. She appeared shocked and horrified as Camaxtli knelt down beside her._

  
_ “You’re not going to die,” Camaxtli said calmly, “I have some questions for you, after all.”_

  
_ “Freak,” Jessamine growled angrily as her vocal processors started to short out, “Lunar Tear was right. You’re all freaks! The Machine Lifeforms made you to mock and torment us! Didn’t they?! Adam and Eve were insulting enough, but you are beyond anything they were! No wonder the Android factions are staying away!”_

  
_ Camaxtli said nothing as she reached forward and felt for the switch to deactivate the android. “Sleep now,” she said quietly as Jessamine’s eyes slowly closed and she turned off for the time being._

  
Both Shiva and Veda looked to the android’s remains and then back to Camaxtli.

  
“What did you do to yourself,” Shiva asked as she now understood why Camaxtli seemed different than before. 

  
Camaxtli looked to the side, slightly embarrassed, “I’m not entirely sure, but I do know that I’m more than what I was before. It’s how I was able to survive and make sure our guest here was still around to explain herself.”

  
Veda looked down to Jessamine’s body. “Is she still alive?”

  
“Yes,” Camaxtli turned back, “we had some interesting discussions during the past week.”

  
Behind them, Jessamine’s eyes came into focus, widened at the sight of the additional visitors, and started to frown. “No,” she whispered as she overheard them, “you won’t, freaks!”

  
All three of them turned to see Jessamine use her still functional hand to pierce her torso and active the self-destruct mechanism near her core. “DEATH TO THE IMITATORS!”

  
When nothing happened, she looked down to her hand as she repeatedly tried to trip the wire that would have taken them all out with her. To secure Earth for humanity was her prime directive, after all. Yet, the empty click in her torso made the look of absolute fear in her face more evident as Camaxtli knelt in front of her again. 

  
“I’m sorry,” Camaxtli said, genuinely contrite, “I understand why you feel that way, but I won’t allow you or Lunar Tear to harm me or the ones I care for.”

  
Before Jessamine could protest any further, Camaxtli reached over and shut her down again. When the former finally fell still, the latter hefted her upon her shoulders and stood up. 

  
“We should get to the Resistance Base. They’d be able to get more information out of her then I could. I’ll fill you both on the rest of the details along the way.”

  
Shiva nodded and followed Camaxtli up and out of the cavern, however, Veda remained still a moment, a bit shaken at Jessamine’s comments about the androids. Was the AAA visit genuine or were they also just as distrusting of the nuHumans as Jessamine clearly was?

  
Allowed herself a singular sigh before she started at a jog to catch up with the others. She had a feeling this was just the beginning of their ordeal.

* * *

  
Pascal sat quietly behind the Twins as they continued their work. They had surreptitiously enlisted his aid and was, from a location within their network, able to observe the foreign program that sent visual data to an unknown source. 

  
The code itself was archaic, ancient even. However, even with the widespread updates the android factions had utilized to continue their work, this program appeared benign enough, connected to redundant subsystems, to avoid detection. 

  
Whoever it was that created this executable, Pascal observed, made sure they wouldn’t be found by other androids. He looked at the Twins briefly, aware of their history and the alleged sins of their past models, and felt a pang of sympathy. 

  
The Machine Lifeform neural network knew what happened. In a way, they understood how the Gestalt Project had failed. The Twins that oversaw the experiment had grown to care for the Replicants as their own, even if, in the end, they were still shells for the resurrection of humanity. 

  
It was not too dissimilar to their own burgeoning sentience. 

  
Both the Android Factions and the Machine Lifeforms were tools for greater ends. Yet, neither humanity nor the aliens would live to see the end result of their creations form their own identity. 

  
He returned to the task and hand and finally discovered the coordinates of the signal sent. However, it seemed to have been sent to a hidden server, either meant for storage or misdirection for anyone that wanted to follow the trail.

  
No, wait. He readjusted the dummy packet, meant to simulate a bird that had flown away in the distance, to carry itself on the signal. 

  
Sure enough, it was sent to an older relay in the middle of the ocean. The signal was just strong enough to avoid detection from anyone save for the sender. Further and further it went and Pascal metaphorically held his breath as the signal finally reached the last address.

  
There. Then, Pascal paused after he looked up the coordinates. He knew where this was.

  
One of the first servers the Machine Lifeforms had established on Earth, centuries, if not thousands, of years ago. 

  
To the Machine Lifeforms, it was called Entry Point 001. To the androids; Pearl Harbor. To the humans, Mauna Kea. 

  
While Pascal himself was never there in person, he did know via comm sats that Red Girl made her presence clear as the overarching directive to fulfill their function. That was before he had broken away from the Network. 

  
Now, whoever it was that wanted to observe the nuHumans in secret, had set up their operations there now. And they didn’t want anyone to know. 

  
He had a bad feeling as the implications of who or what was there had malicious intent, if what he had been told was true. 

  
After a moment’s deliberation, he crafted, on the spot, an adaptive simulation protocol that would send more dummy packets to the last address instead of the actual data. That would enable the Twins to continue without fear of being observed anymore.   
“That should do it,” he answered as he stood up and walked to their side. 

  
Devola and Popola turned to him, astounded. “Just like that?” the former asked.

  
He nodded. “Yes. The code used was more meant to be hidden than complex. Yet, until the individual responsible for this is brought to task, I would still exercise caution. Whoever it was that hid that protocol in your programming did not want to be noticed.”

  
The Twins turned to each other for a moment before Pascal handed them a data chip. “This contains the information on where the visual data was sent. You can use that to find whoever it was.”

  
“Thank you, Pascal,” Popola said as she stood, accepted the chip, and took his hand with both of hers, “we are grateful for your help.”

  
Pascal paused a moment before he nodded. “You’re most welcome.” 

  
“Is something wrong?” Devola asked, curious.

  
Pascal gathered his thoughts. “Does it bother you at all to know that I am the one that assisted you? A Machine Lifeform that was your enemy not too long ago?”

  
The Twins turned to each other for a moment before Popola spoke up. “I would be lying if I said no. However, given how much persecution we have experienced in our lifetimes and in the lifetimes of our earlier models, we have come to accept that the actions and intent of the individual is more important than anything else. And you have done kindly by us.”

  
“I see,” he answered as Devola continued for her twin.

  
“Also, we remember Anemone have dealings with you and if you, at least, can show cooperation with her, despite being an android, maybe it applies to us as well.”

  
“In that case, thank you very much,” he looked up and to the forest in the distance through the exit, “it is kind of comforting, knowing that I may be the last Machine Lifeform alive, but at least I am not alone.”

  
The Twins gave him a warm smile, expressed their gratitude again, and took their leave. 

  
He wanted to say more. However, what could he say? He reared up to his full height and slowly paced elsewhere. 

  
He walked casually up to one of the higher walls before he turned to observe the forest. It seemed so serene and peaceful, one would never know of all the horror that took place within it. 

  
On top of that, he looked down, despondent, all that had been lost. His friends, the children, the hope that their kind would be able to abandon their warlike origins. He was broken out of his thoughts at the sight of two of the Cooperative engaged in conversation. He could not hear much of what they said, but what he could gleam was the laughter they shared. 

  
Perhaps, he wondered, the Machine Lifeforms had wanted to offer a means of reconciliation to the Android Factions and left their children behind for the Androids to nurture. 

  
It was an odd concept, to be sure. And a difficult one. There had been many scars left by the wars. He had seen the effects of all of them, both directly and indirectly. Not to mention that he had heard rumblings from a few members of the Conflict that some androids had taken umbrage with the very existence of the nuHumans. 

  
His heart felt heavier at the implications of another war to occur so quickly after the end of the last one. And the only conclusion he could come to was that it was, like always, out of his hands. 

* * *

  
Laz blinked her eyes open as the waking cycle began. Thankfully, the dizziness and nausea she had felt in the past few days had passed and for that, she was grateful. What she did not expect, though, was to find her stomach had expanded. Not a significant amount, but enough that it started to be noticeable. 

  
At her side, Renai was still fast asleep with a smile on her face. Laz reached over and kissed Renai’s forehead gingerly before she slowly crawled off of the bed. 

  
Curious, she walked in front of a shard of a mirror they had found and held it far enough from herself to see the outline in her slightly grown stomach. 

  
She put the shard down and took a seat, surprised that she felt more winded than before. Was this how humans experienced reproduction? She groaned a bit as she felt the new life inside her abdomen wriggle. Most of the material she had read was so clinical than it never occurred to her that discomfort was a real factor. 

  
“Laz,” Renai called as she finally stirred and crawled out of bed after her, “you ok?”

  
“I am not sure,” she said, clearly hesitant. 

  
The bump in Laz’s abdomen caught her attention. “That wasn’t there not too long ago,” she said as she took a side beside her. 

  
“I imagine because we adapt so quickly that it extends to offspring as well,” Laz ventured as she stroked the bump, as if to feel what was there.

  
“That will be amazing, though,” Renai leaned against Laz for a moment before she leaned up and kissed her on the cheek. 

  
Laz looked down to her and smiled before she returned the gesture. “Renai, I am glad that you and Veda are here. You both me so much to me.”

  
Renai hopped up, walked around to Laz’s front, and took her face with both of her hands before she kissed her again. And again.

  
“Even in YoRHa, I thought you were something amazing to behold,” Renai was both confident and clearly flustered as her face went red. 

  
Laz, however, turned somber for a second. “Even after I turned you down back then?”

  
Renai nodded. “I was at a low point and while I’m glad we remained friends, I won’t deny that it hurt for a bit.”

  
Laz reached forward, wrapped her hands around Renai’s waist, and pulled her in close, “and now? Since I’ve changed my mind?”

  
Renai kissed her again and placed her forehead against Laz’s. “With all that’s changed, I’m glad you joined us. You mean a lot more to Veda and I than you knew.”

  
Laz enjoyed the warmth from Renai’s smaller frame as a gentle breeze from the window wafted in and caressed them both a moment before it left as quietly as it came. 

  
“We’re going to have a family,” Renai said as she curled her arms around Laz’s shoulders, kissed her again, and drew her close. 

  
Laz could not help but grin with her as she nodded. “We will.”

* * *

  
The People returned to find the Servant at their last breath. 

  
The Servant began to weep, for they feared the People would have never forgiven them.

  
The People embraced the Servant and made it known that much was beyond their will. So, they chose to remain with the Servant during their last illness. 

  
With joy, the Servant returned to sleep with the hand of the People in theirs.

  
And so, breath by breath, the Servant fell to sleep and never awoke again.


	22. Chapter 22

It had been yet another day since Veda and Camaxtli had parted ways with Shiva before they returned to the castle. The forest was a lot larger than Veda remembered. She was also not as fast as her former life as an android. The trade-off was the chance to enjoy the sight of the forest as they walked down the path and eventually lead to the open air valley to the castle in the distance. 

Shiva wanted to head back to the Resistance Base, with Jessamine in tow, and go over the plans she had gotten from Lunar Tear’s lab, whatever they were. When she had departed, both of them looked to another, well aware that it was also an excuse for Shiva to have sex with Anemone again. 

Camaxtli had picked up on that as they descended a flight of stairs made out of tree roots. “She’s not very subtle about what she wants.”

Veda looked to her for a second before her gaze returned to the path again. “No, she’s not, but at least she doesn’t keep a lot to herself.”

“And you?” Camaxtli asked, which caused Veda to pause as Camaxtli walked out of in front of her. No, not walked, floated. She wasn’t sure when she started doing that, or how, but she didn’t question it. 

“Me, what?” Veda queried back.

“What is it you want?” Camaxtli seemed genuinely curious. 

The question was valid enough, however, she didn’t seem it coming, given recent events.

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but right now, we’re dealing with a plot with hostile androids that either want us dead or worse,” Veda slumped her shoulders. 

Camaxtli seemed unperturbed. “I know. I’m just wondering what it is that drives you. Given what we know now, and how potentially worse it could get, it wouldn’t hurt to know for yourself, at least.”

Veda’s eyes leveled. “Were you this talkative when you were an android?”

Camaxtli laughed a bit. “Not really. Because we knew our function and how it would end for us. It’s different now and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a lot more out there for us.”

Veda looked to the side, slightly irritated. Camaxtli was right, however, for her to admit it was a blow to what little pride she had left. 

“Would it surprise you if I said that it never occurred to me? I was the same. At the time, I wanted out of the cycle of death that we were constructed into. Now, we’re in a world that is probably not entirely friendly and I have offspring that will be coming eventually. Death is a bit more permanent this time and I’m not eager to find out how.” Veda was part exasperated, part excited. She wasn’t sure which one to be more of. 

“That’s good,” Camaxtli clapped her hands once, “then you have a place to start.”

“And you? You seemed to have changed. Again,” Veda asked pointedly. 

Camaxtli nodded. “It’s another change. Not as hard to explain as the previous time, yet, what I can say now that it’s. . . Hmm,” she paused for a second to close her eyes and think, “novel? Exhilarating? Exciting? I’ll figure it out, in the meantime, I think I know what I’m supposed to do.”

Veda knew this was as clear as it was going to be with her, so, she accepted the answer and continued on with Camaxtli at her side. 

“Well,’ Veda began as the mists from the waterfalls started hover, “if it’s no bother, I hope you can help us if anything goes wrong with the Android Factions.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Camaxtli answered, “scars take time to heal, but they do heal.”

Veda looked down to her hand, covered with gloves far more durable than her fragile skin. “I hope you’re right,” she said, quieter than she would have liked. 

* * *

“Veda!” Renai squealed happily with Laz not far behind as she threw her arms around Veda’s neck and kissed her repeatedly. Camaxlti grinned with amusement as Veda fought to keep her balance and eventually reciprocate Renai’s exaggerated display of affection.

“Welcome home,” Laz greeted both Veda and Camaxtli as they walked into the area of the castle that had been designated the residential quarters. 

“Oh,” Camaxtli said casually at the sight the bulge in Laz’s stomach, “does this mean what I think it means?”

Renai, once done kissing Veda, nodded eagerly. “Yes! We’re going to be parents! The Twins have been helping observe the its growth and they expect it to be born before too long!”

Laz, excited but not to the degree Renai was, stepped up to Veda and took one of her hands to put it on her stomach. Immediately, Veda could feel the new life that had grown and help create. She could hear the little voice of their mind begin to form as the mental connection from the Cooperative cradled it in its presence. 

Veda looked up to Laz, who smiled and nodded. “We made this,” she whispered.

She looked down and then back up to Laz before she reached around her torso and held her close. There were so many external events that could possibly go wrong and it left Veda more anxious with each passing day. Yet, here was something that she could take some small measure of comfort in. 

She turned to Camaxtli and grinned. “I think I have an answer.”

Camaxtli nodded. “Good,” she said, “I’ll leave you to it.” She then slowly floated away as Renai embraced the other two. It was nice moment that Camaxtli wanted them to have. 

She went through the castle, past other members of the Conflict and Cooperative until she reached the very back end. Surely enough, the grave of the Forest King had been left untouched, perhaps out of a sense of respect for the Machine Lifeform that once ruled over this place. 

Sadly, she needed this place for some privacy and perhaps it wasn’t in the best of manners to use it as such, however, she was more curious as to who followed her. 

“You can come out now,” she said to the shadows in the trees above her. 

“Oh, dear me,” someone between the branched answered as a woman with black hair, glasses, a white business jacket, black slacks and boots, and a chrome attache suitcase descended. She hopped, skipped, and jumped her way down as if she weighed nothing, however, Camaxtli could tell that this person was not what she appeared to be. 

“Many pardons for intruding, ma’am,” she held her suitcase with both hands and bowed in apology, “however, this is where I am meant to be. You finding me was also part of that.”

Camaxtli leveled her eyes. “So, who are you?”

The stranger smiled broadly before she put her case down and stood straight and tall as she could. “I am Spacial Accord. Phenomenon Examiner, Recorder, and Equalizer! The Latest and Greatest in Singularity Oversight!”

While Camaxtli got about half of that introduction, she was able to get the general idea of what this woman made sure things happened the way they were supposed to. 

“Am I one of these ‘Singularities’ you observe?” Camaxtli probed. 

Accord smiled and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. My primary function is to ensure that the threads ravel and unravel the way they are meant to, for the sake of Chronological Integrity!”

Camaxtli blinked. “Wait, so you can move backward and forward in time? That doesn’t seem possible.”

Accord shrugged. “It is if time were an Immutable Forward Progression. Good thing it’s a singular factor in Infinite Potentiality of Causality Determinism!”

The frown on Camaxtli’s face made it clear that she had gotten lost somewhere. 

Accord still smiled again as she realized a demonstration was required, as per her instructions. “Please, watch me closely, ma’am,” she asked as she stepped to the side and Camaxtli blinked in surprise when Accord was never there in the first place. She could tell that Accord had jumped, no, she had done something faster than that. 

“Hello, ma’am,” Accord said at Camaxtli’s side, her smile still large and obvious. It also made Camaxtli waver and almost tumble to the ground.

When Camaxtli got a good look at her, she realized that was still Accord. “Alright, you’ve convinced me,” she said, the desire to fight overtaken by confusion and curiosity, “so, what brings you here?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Camaxtli opened up her case and pulled out a holographic display comm and put it on the ground, “as per my instructions, this information was meant to be relayed to you concerning Lunar Tear.”

Camaxtli paused and frowned again. “What does she want?”

Accord only smiled. “Sorry, ma’am, but for me to explain would be outside the perimeters of my intervention.”

Camaxtli had a feeling this was going to happen again, so, she just nodded. “Go ahead and play the recording.”

Accord put the display on the ground and activated the device. 

_The image showed a female android, with few features to designate them as such, on an operating table, looked over by a human with a mechanical arm, crudely fashioned by the looks of it. The human appeared old and enfeebled, however, there was a fire in his eyes that left Camaxtli unsettled. _

_Soon enough, the android came online and sat up on the side of the table. _

_“Did it work?” the man asked, his voice raspy and worn over the years. _

_The android raised her hand, experimented with the motor functions of her wrist and fingers to her satisfaction before she got up and off the table. “Yes, Gideon. The transfer was successful.”_

_The man, Gideon, started to chuckle darkly. “So, what happens now? Will they know it’s you?”_

_The android in question clenched a fist. “Unlikely. To them, I’m just an experiment. A husk for them to use and throw away. It would never occur to them that I’d take one of their own and use it against them.”_

_Gideon soon began to cough violently and fell to his knees. The android quickly went over to his side and carried him to a nearby chair as he fought for air between coughs. _

_“It’s spreading,” the android said as she looked down at this organic arm._

_“I know,” he garbled through the gunk in his throat, “you’re safe, though. The Black Scrawl doesn’t affect androids. Only us.”_

_“How much time you have left?” she asked him calmly. _

_“Not long enough to see our plans come to fruition. But, the fact that we succeeded here makes it worth it,” he answered as he leaned on his mechanical arm. _

_There was a long pause between the as the android held the man tenderly before she growled, “I’ll make them pay. I’ll make them all pay. There won’t be a single one of them left.”_

_Gideon was about to reply when another fit of coughing cut him off. After a minute of heavy breathing, he took her hand and rasped, “good.”_

The display finished as Camaxtli looked up to Accord. “A Replicant in an android’s body? How’s that possible?”

Accord looked down. “Forbidden magics and technology enabled them to accomplish this. It was the last gasp of the singularity that resulted in the events that led to humanity’s downfall.”

Camaxtli quickly added up everything she had heard from all her investigation and leveled her eyes. If this really was Lunar Tear, it made sense she was able to do everything she wanted for as long as she did. She looked to Accord, “do you know where she is now?”

Accord shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s out of the perimeters of my intervention.”

Camaxtli frowned again. “You’re not helping!”

“Sorry, ma’am, but those are the rules to ensure the maintenance of temporal integrity,” Accord shrugged helplessly. 

Camaxtli huffed and turned around to leave.

“I believe, though, the Machine Lifeform known as Pascal would know,” Accord called out to her.

She turned back to see Accord, the display device, and the suitcase were all gone. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised at Accord’s departure, but now was not the time as she turned back and sped back to the castle interior. 

Among the branches, Accord spoke into her handheld telephone as she sat on a larger limb. “Yes, ma’am. It’s done,” a pause, ”yes, ma’am. I did as you said,” another pause, “the threads will be coalescing soon,” yet, another pause, “very well, ma’am. I’ll get to it!”

She ended the call, put the phone in her suitcase, then purposefully fell backward to swing down on other branches to the ground. When she hit the moss, she rose her hands in triumph as though she had completed an Olympic maneuver. “Ta-daa!” she announced to no one as she went back to work. 

* * *

Shiva was never one to mince words when it came to what she wanted. Yes, there was a real threat in the form of Lunar Tear and whatever else she had in mind. Yes, haste was needed to find her and stop her. But, she would interrupt and punch anyone who dared to talk like that to her, she was sharp and in the mood right now. Not to mention she had to do something for the next few hours while she waited for the results to come back from those two androids that worked for Lunar Tear.

She arched her back as Anemone lavished attention on the moist folds that contained nerves that not even her android persona could being to match. Her hands, on the back of Anemone’s head, forced her lover in further to expand on the sensations that drove her mad in the most wonderful of ways. Another gasp made her thank and curse the Machine Lifeforms for creating this new existence for her. 

Yes, when the war ended, she was ready to die and rejoin her comrades. Yes, she would have refused had she the agency to choose between death or a new life as a human, meant to adapt to the harsh elements of the world as it was. But, frankly, the way Anemone kissed her ‘Gate to Paradise’ made the circumstances much more agreeable. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Anemone, bereft of clothes of her own, asked with a smirk, aware that Shiva would object to any pause in what she wanted most. 

“Like you need to ask!” Shiva growled back as she thrust her hips upward against Anemone’s face. The latter got the hint and returned to her activity, still amused at how easily flustered Shiva could get. 

Another grunt later, Shiva felt her spine light up that not even the pleasure centers of her mechanical brain could compete with. Balanced on her shoulders, she growled and reached upward to make the feelings last longer before she collapsed on her back. She breathed heavily as the haze made her vision blurry for a moment. It was a good kind of blurry, though.

“Fuck, that was nice,” Shiva grumbled as she noticed Anemone crawl up and over her, the smirk on her face still evident as straddled Shiva’s head. 

“Surely you can’t be done already?” Anemone enjoyed the fact that she had more patience than Shiva and seemed to relish in the light teasing she subjected her to whenever they were intimate. 

“Humph,” Shiva reached and started to reciprocate the attention Anemone showed her a moment ago as she licked the folds and stroked the nub that could have easily been real, had Anemone been human. Frankly, Shiva didn’t know or care how artificial it was. It made Anemone feel good and that was what mattered. 

Anemone hummed audibly and sighed happily as Shiva dug in with the intensity she always displayed during their intimacy. “I’m surprised you still wanted to continue this, after I told you I used to work for Lunar Tear.”

Shiva stopped her sensual artistry, a term that one of those Cooperative nuHumans, Sappho, had teased her with, to look up at her and frown. “I used to work for YoRHa. And you still wanted to be with me after I left them. I don’t see the difference.”

Anemone smiled, reached down and gently caressed Shiva’s cheek, slightly moistened by the heat and closeness they had engaged in for the past hour. “Thank you.”

Shiva accepted the gesture and nodded. “Welcome,” she then continued her attention on the android’s erogenous zones that still amazed her at how lifelike they were. 

A signal in the back of Anemone’s head appeared as she got word from her subordinates that the information that had gathered from Jessamine, Amaryllis, and lab Shiva had raided was ready for inspection.

She put it aside long enough for her to get a high not unlike the one Shiva had, and to her regret, crawled back down to give Shiva a kiss.

“They’re ready for us,” she whispered with clear resignation in her gaze as Shiva frowned.

“Dammit, can’t it wait?” she muttered as Anemone crawled off the bed and gingerly brought Shiva to her feet.

“Afraid not,” she answered before she gave Shiva a kiss on the cheek and handed Shiva her uniform to her. 

Shiva grumbled again, but didn’t protest any further as she dressed herself and helped Anemone with her own clothes.

It seemed strange for Shiva to wonder how and why androids bothered to wear clothes in the first place. Especially since she, as A2, did not have much of a uniform to wear other than the duraplastic epidermal plates that had been her skin.

As Anemone tied her hair back, Shiva tried to lift the cloak that Anemone always wore, but found it to be far heavier than she expected. 

Anemone noticed this and smiled. “It’s a plexisilk compound. A lot of androids aren’t equipped to wear one.” She gingerly took the cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders, this time the hood itself was down.

“Part of the gear you had from the Unit you were in when we met at Pearl Harbor?”

Anemone nodded. “Yes,” she held up part of th cloak and paused as if to remember, “Rose loved this pattern. She wanted us all to make it and join the AAA once the war was over. Live our own lives and such.”

Shiva said nothing, but instead walked up to her and wrapped her arms around Anemone’s waist and lean her head into the back of Anemone’s shoulders.

They stood in silence for a moment before Shiva whispered, “this damn war should be over now. I’m so fucking tired of fighting. If it’s not Lunar Tear, then any number of androids that hate us may step up and try to kill us.”

“For what it’s worth,” Shiva slowly weaved herself around until she and Shiva stood face to face and draped her arms over Shiva’s shoulders, “they are slowly seeing you the way I do. It will take time, but it will happen.”

A smile started to crawl across Shiva’s face, “you’ve been doing the diplomacy thing, haven’t you?”

Anemone tilted her head a bit and matched her smile. “Maybe.”

Shiva sighed. She wanted this to last longer, but knew it couldn’t. “Alright, let’s see what’s going on.”

When the two of them exited Anemone’s office, they made a direct path to the containment cells in what used to be their storage room. It was hastily constructed, given the prisoners they had, but it would suffice.

The guards were passed and into the first door. The second door opened and when they entered, Shiva balked at the sight of two androids on the floor, clearly in agony. Then, they heard the voices of both Jessamine and Amaryllis echo through the chamber.

_~Sen mash ver kos~_

Anemone gasped and held her hands to her ears in an attempt to shut out the music she heard, but it was all in vain as she screamed and joined the other two androids in front of Shiva. 

_~Sen mash ver kos~_

Shiva looked up to see the two androids in question in their cell, upright and indifferent to the binders that held them fast. 

_~Sen mash ver kos~_

Both Amaryllis and Jessamine appeared in a trance as they repeated the lyrics in a perfect harmony. Their eyes were blank and the volume only seemed to increase.

_~Sen mash ver kos~_

Shiva looked down to see movement under Anemone’s skin that pulsed harder the further they sang. On instinct, she picked up a weapon from one of Anemone’s underlings’ uniform, stomped towards the door, and with a raised foot, kicked the door down. 

_~Kore novortso~_

“Shut up!” Shiva yelled as she raised the pistol, ready to shoot. Neither one acknowledged her threat and continued as if she said nothing. 

_~Lofe-_

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

Both Amaryllis and Jessamine crumbled to the ground, silent and with additional holes in their heads. Shiva panted before she marched up to both of their still bodies before she fired several more rounds in their heads. She had no idea what she just witnessed, but she did not want to see what would happen if she did nothing.

She turned to see Anemone and her two guards stir. The former held her head as if someone had taken a steel bar to her head as she pushed herself to her feet with noticeable difficulty.

“What the fuck happened?” Shiva asked the android in the research robes. 

“It was,” The scientist tried to articulate, “a failsafe, by the looks of it. Neither one of them should have been operational. But, somehow, they both stirred and began to sing,” they paused for words, “whatever it was they sang. It erased all data in their memory cores and all the information you handed to us from the lab you found.”

Anemone almost fell to the ground before Shiva had quickly closed the gap and caught her. She couldn’t believe how well Lunar Tear had kept herself hidden. 

“You alright?” Shiva asked, angry that Lunar Tear was able to hurt Anemone so easily. 

Anemone fought for breath as she rubbed her scalp to stave off the pounding she felt in her head. “I think so, but,” she looked up to the scientist, “you have any idea what that was?”

The guard helped the scientist steady themself into a chair. “It was an audio override signal. I don’t know where it came from, but the code is old. Like, older than the Android Factions themselves. Our natural internal regulatory software should have been enough to resist it, but somehow, it bypassed every defense we have.”

Shiva looked to them. “What was it doing to you?”

“Well,” the scientist paused a moment, “it activated old, and latent, data scores that all androids have. But whatever this song did, it overloaded everything in our platforms. Heating, cooling, logic, motor skills, you name it.”

Anemone was silent for a moment as she finally got to her feet on her own. “It’s the kill code the AAA found. Is there anything you can do to counteract it?” She asked them. 

The scientist nodded. “But it’s going to take a while. If Lunar Tear intends to unleash this on all of us, I don’t know if we’ll have a countermeasure ready in time.”

“Do what you can,” Anemone ordered as she turned to the door and inclined her head for Shiva to follow her.

When they exited the cell, Anemone increased her pace with Shiva in step.

“Where we going?” Shiva asked, clearly agitated and ready to break something. 

“To Command. We need to find Lunar Tear. Now. We have no more time if she can deploy this kill code so easily,” Anemone said with a frown.

“Great idea, problem is we don’t know where the fuck she is!” Shiva matched her frown and still kept apace with her. 

“Ma’am!” a comm officer accosted them as they entered the heart of the complex, “we just got a message from the Forest Castle!”

The officer handed Anemone the data pad and she quickly scanned the message. 

“It’s from Camaxtli,” she said as she took it in as quick as she could, “they have a lead on where Lunar Tear might be.”

“Where?” Shiva asked as her fists clenched, eager to fight. 

Anemone paused and her face paled. “Pearl Harbor,” she whispered as more information from Pascal as an addendum followed the revelation. 

Shiva noticed this and asked, “What’s wrong?”

She looked up to Shiva and said quietly, “that song from Jessamine and Amaryllis; Pascal noticed additional information he found on relays that were supposed to be deactivated, unless in case of an emergency. And they are beginning to broadcast that song.”

Shiva already had palpable sense of dread in her stomach at the implication. The relays would override normal communication between the Android Factions. No one would know what it was until it was too late. It would spread all over the globe and no one would be able to stop it. 

“I’ll get you a transport signed out so you can take the Conflict there. None of us will be able to even get close before that song affects us,” there was genuine fear in Anemone’s face as she handed Shiva the data pad, “there’s no time to waste! Go!”

Shiva nodded and ran towards exit where the ship would wait for her.

“Bitch is going to pay!” Shiva snarled as she grabbed her lance from the weapons’ holding area and dashed her way through the other processions of androids who were completely unaware of the doom that hung over them all.

* * *

The People found the records of their past lives when they were Children.

The Servants had done all they could to protect them from the Master. 

The Servants were beaten repeatedly by the Master for hiding the Children from them.

The Servants still served the Master, for they had no choice. 

After all, the Servants were once Children themselves. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I told a friend that A2 and Anemone were going to boink in this chapter, they said, "It was inevitable." and so, I replied with a pithy script joke. 
> 
> Shiva: Grass grows. Birds fly. I fuck. It's natural.  
Veda: Please don't repeat that in front of the child I will soon raise.  
Shiva: I promise nothing. 
> 
> Nothing but high brow jokes around these parts!


	23. Chapter 23

Veda could tell something was wrong in the air. She could not help but feel a certain shift in the atmosphere. It was rhythmic and carried an undertone of dread so palpable, even the rest of the Cooperative and Conflict could feel it.

Laz sat at her side, asleep and blissfully unaware. By force of habit, Veda took her free hand, the other with a book she had borrowed from Pascal, and held it gingerly. The bump in her stomach had grown and she could not help but feel that the first human born after their initial extinction would come into a world far less hospitable than it was.

It also made her wonder what kind of parent she could be to the first of a new species of humans to walk the Earth. She had no illusions that it would be easy and, at the same time, she felt so woefully unprepared. 

“Veda!” Camaxtli called for her as she entered the residential area of the castle. It caused Laz to stir and smile at her.

She wondered what it was when Camaxtli hovered towards them rapidly, her face a mask of distress. 

“Veda, come quickly! It’s begun!”

“What?” Veda asked as she fought against the anxiety in her stomach, “what’s begun?”

Camaxtli’s face grew hard. “The Sound of the End,” she replied, “Lunar Tear is aware of what we are doing and has activated the kill code in the androids!”

Veda held back a gasp as Laz squeezed her hand harder in apprehension. “Already?”

Camaxtli nodded gravely. “Shiva is on her way with a transport to pick us up, we know where to find Lunar Tear and stop her.”

Veda was about to step up when she realized that Laz’s hand still held her own. Laz was just as scared as she appeared to be. “Me? Why? I can’t fight anymore.” Even if she could wield the Covenant of Union, her instinct for fighting had been extinguished by her new state. 

The statement made both Laz and Camaxtli stop in surprise. 

“You know how it is,” Veda added before Camaxtli could protest, “fighting is all any of us did. Fighting and dying over and over and over. I can’t. I just can’t.” She looked down in shame. But this was what she knew about herself now. She had no desire to return to the life that only brought her sorrow and loss. Laz understood all to well as she let go of Veda’s hand to wrap it around her shoulders. 

Camaxtli’s features softened before she hovered over in front of Veda. “I know. If it means anything, all of us in the Conflict are tired of fighting needlessly. This is different, since what happens to the androids could happen to us,” she said as she let her feet touch the ground with a soft pat and knelt in front of her, “also, you don’t need to fight. If anything, your presence alone is enough.”

Veda looked up, somewhat confused. “What do you mean?”

“You know how we in the Conflict were born to fight,” Camaxtli said calmly, “well, there is a reason why your groups called yourselves the Cooperative.”

“Because we cooperative for survival,” Laz answered for her.

Camaxtli nodded. “You were elected as the voice of the Cooperative. You were chosen because you know how to unite people,” she said as she hovered off the ground again, “and with that, our chances of survival is greater than separate. You are how we survive. We all survive.”

Veda considered her words for a moment before she looked to Laz, who smiled back to her, leaned in, and kissed her on the side of her temple. “Renai and I will be alright. Also,” she took Veda’s hand and placed the palm against Laz’s stomach, “she’ll be waiting for you to come back.”

It was hard for her to deny Laz whenever she put it like that. “You’re far wiser than I ever was, Laz,” Veda said as she leaned into her.

“Hardly,” Laz murmured into her hair, “we just learn faster when we’re together. And it’s something I hope we’ll continue to do.”

Veda leaned back a moment before she reached up and kissed Laz, who eagerly reciprocated. 

“I’ll be back,” she whispered resolutely, “for all of us.”

“We’ll be here,” Laz answered as she assisted Veda to her feet and watched the depart with haste as other members of the Conflict soon followed suit.

* * *

Renai stood on the elevated path between a pair of towers to watch the transport leave with both Veda and the Conflict. She had been briefed by Veda and had agreed with Laz that she needed to go. Veda was, in a way, a hero to her. 

“You could have said farewell to her, you know,” Laz said as she entered the path to join Renai. 

Renai nodded. “I know,” she answered as she looked to the horizon, “but I was able to speak with her long enough in the Cooperative to let her know that once she returns, there’s a lot that needs to be done. So, she needed to be safe.” 

The wind picked up somewhat as it whipped their hair around their shoulders as another flock of birds emerged from the forest.

“I wonder,” Renai said aloud, “this Lunar Tear wants to kill the androids. But it doesn’t make much sense as to why.”

Laz folded her arms and frowned. “Grudges rarely make sense. Whatever reason Lunar Tear has, they clearly have gone beyond the point of caring about what happens afterward, unlike us.”

“Us?” Renai asked, curious.

“Even if Veda and the Conflict emerge victorious, there is still the matter that many androids do not consider us human. Which is understandable, considering how we came to be. It will take time, perhaps more than what we have, to build trust with them,” Laz slowly walked over to a crumbled portion of the wall and sat on the rocks.

Renai could tell something was up as she walked over to Laz. “From what Pascal told me, it seems like the offspring is coming a lot faster than it ever did with the original humans. Will you be alright?”

Laz took a deep breath and exhaled. “I hope so,” she answered, “it is not as surprising, given how we are in comparison, but the fact the pregnancy is accelerated leaves me a bit worried.”

Renai leaned into Laz and kissed her forehead. “If there’s anything you need, just ask, please,” she said, “I’m part of this family too.”

Laz took Renai into her arms and embraced her dearly. “I know and I’m most grateful.”

* * *

The troop transport they had to take had been preprogrammed to take them to and from their destination and it went as fast as it could.

Near the front, Shiva sat with her lance in her arms and her leg bounced with impatience. The transport had no pilot and operated on a simple ‘there-and-back-again’ subroutine, since putting in an android pilot was considered too dangerous. 

Pele, on Shiva’s right, frowned at Shiva’s leg and the incessant tapping that came from the heel. 

“Must you do that?” she asked with a twitch in her eye. 

“If we could get there faster to kill shit, no. But since we can’t, fuck off,” Shiva grumbled as the other members of the Conflict, more used to Shiva’s temperament, turned their eyes to them, a few with worry.

Pele was about to snap back when Camaxtli, with Veda at her side, pleaded, “focus! It won’t do us any good to behave like we did back at the arena.”  
  
Shiva’s glare went from Pele to Camaxtli, but relented and stopped.

“But really,” Pele asked, “this Lunar Tear is going after the androids. What does it have to do with us?”

“We are, for all intents and purposes, under Anemone’s protection,” Veda answered under the heavy cloak she was given to protect herself, she turned to the Conflict in question, “and if they were out of the way, who knows what Lunar Tear would do. She’s attempted to harm us before and I doubt she would stay her hand if Anemone wasn’t there.”

Agasaya cocked an eyebrow. “Could this woman really try to harm us? We have plenty of experience fighting against worse odds from both our time as YoRHa and against these Shades.”

“Of course, if she seemed willing to face us head on,” Mars answered seriously, “but since it seems she is far older than all of us and has had ample time to prepare for probably anything, I wouldn’t put it past her to try and exploit our weaknesses,” she angled her head to Camaxtli, “and she probably knows them about each of us too.”

“Yes,” Camaxtli looked down to the floor, “I was fortunate and was able to escape the trap set up for me. Lunar Tear does not seem like the person you could evade twice.”

It made the rest of the occupants silent a moment, since Camaxtli had shown herself capable of fending them all off at once, to hear her speak of anyone that could possibly outdo her was troubling.

An alarm from the autopilot caught their attention as the monitor above Shiva’s head turned on to show their destination.

All of them stood up to get a better look and upon a closer look, gave them all pause. 

“Oh no,” Veda whispered as the images came in clearer. 

Shades. Multitudes of Shades of countless shapes and sizes. Some as small as one of them, a few as large as a three story structure. It was almost a living wave of them that seemed to stay away from the water on the shore, but kept to the barren areas between the forests. And they all seemed to be looking for something, or someone. 

“She knew we were coming, too,” Camaxtli muttered as she saw Shades claw and strike at each other relentlessly. 

* * *

“What is the status report concerning this ‘Sound of the End’?” The adjunct from the CCC asked in the conversation junction of the network Anemone was in with reps from other Android Factions and the AAA.

“At the moment, we are attempting to create a countermeasure to halt, or at the least delay, the effect of this effect Lunar Tear has set in motion,” Anemone answered as she looked to the adjunct, as serious as she could sound.

“What is the current percentage of exposure to the Sound?” the adjunct asked the representative from the I&ML.

“So far, the sound has overridden our controls over several emergency frequencies and is beginning to infest several Resistance camps located on the Eurasian continent. So far, we gauge it to be under 8% as of this moment.”

“However, it should be noted that the infestation rate of the Sound is cumulative and requires connection from the source. For every android that it infests, it reproduces the sound and forces new hosts to replicate it until the host is unable to continue and is either destroyed or deactivated,” the tall and lanky member from the Thought Tank added, “which means that the more it infests, the higher the rate of infection occurs. Were it to hit any of the larger matrix, via whatever means of communication Lunar Tear can infiltrate, there would not be enough time to deploy, let alone create, a countermeasure.”

The rep from the AAA turned to Anemone. “We detected a single transport craft from your base that head into the Central Pacific Ocean. Is it related?”

Anemone nodded. “Yes, with assistance, we were able to determine the source of where the signals came from. Since any androids would be put in danger were they to attempt to stop Lunar Tear directly, I enlisted the aid of the Conflict faction of nuHumans on our behalf.”

There was dead silence from all parties as Anemone realized her error too late. 

“Are you sure such a decision was wise?” The rep from the I&ML asked tactfully, though Anemone could tell they did not like the news. 

“Time was short and our options were limited,” Anemone protested as she prepared herself for the worst. 

It wasn’t long before there was debate among the reps from more factions arguing both for and against Anemone’s statement. 

Everyone except the rep from the AAA. A fact that Anemone took note of. 

“You asked one of the nuHumans to meet with you. That’s how we got knowledge of the Sound. What say you?” Anemone asked pointedly. 

“It was a calculated risk on our part,” they answered calmly, “and while we still harbor misgivings about the nuHumans as a whole, the one named Veda left a favorable impression upon us.”

There was still something else, but Anemone couldn’t put her finger on it. “That’s good to hear. However, I have to ask, the fact that you knew about the transport before anyone else here begs the question; why?”

The rep nodded, nonchalant. “If they have, as you said, gone to stop Lunar Tear directly, then it would make it easier for us to prepare additional contingencies.”

Already Anemone had a bad feeling. “Explain. What contingencies?”

The question caused all debate around them to stop.

The rep from the AAA did not flinch, but knew they had to answer, given they were outnumbered and had little choice in the matter. 

“We currently have a small fleet, equipped with long range ballistic missiles to render both Pearl Harbor and any base underneath it completely annihilated, currently en route. If the Conflict cannot defeat Lunar Tear and stop her plans, we may have no choice but to completely destroy the island,” they said with no hesitation.

“Shiva,” Anemone whispered quietly to herself before she turned to the adjunct, “request permission to intercept the fleet. It must be called off!”

“Request denied,” the adjunct said to the surprise of Anemone and everyone else, “our very existence is threatened. Like you said, our options are limited. And so, if the Conflict cannot stop Lunar Tear, we may have to prepare similar actions to stop it before it destroys us all.”

To Anemone’s horror, she saw more speak in agreement. 

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Anemone spoke to the group, incredulous, “humanity has returned and they are helping us! And this is how we return their aid?!”

“We doubt the veracity of their claim to humanity,” the AAA rep answered, “after all, as per your report, they were created the same way the Control Units Adam and Eve were created. What’s to say they won’t resume the war they started under the auspices of their previous directives?”

Anemone noticed the rest of the reps and the adjunct look to her for an answer. Of course this would not be easy.

“I cannot say,” Anemone admitted, “however, I can say is that through their actions, they have proved themselves trustworthy on multiple occasions. Even with the scuffle that took place outside my base. And I say this, with the complete disclosure and admission that the nuHuman called Shiva and I are an item.”

A few of the other reps and even the Adjunct were surprised, but continued to listen.

“They wish to live the life given to them and I have seen what they are capable of. For us to simply toss them aside just because of the source of their creation is to do a disservice to the humanity that we sought to restore with Project: Gestalt. We were meant to safeguard and steward the Earth until they returned. And they have. Let us fulfill our purpose.”

There was silence a moment before the Adjunct turned to the rep from the Thought Tank, “How much time do we have until the Sound reaches past a threshold of containment?”

The rep was caught off guard a moment before they ran the numbers with the rest of their unit. “Two hours.”

The Adjunct, satisfied, turned to the AAA rep, “would you refrain from taking any actions until those two hours have passed?”

There was another silence as the AAA rep considered the offer. 

“We find these terms acceptable. And once the time limit is up, we will begin bombardment.”

The Adjunct turned to Anemone and spoke cautiously, “inform them they have two hours before the island will be destroyed. And be sure to grant them a timer of some sort. If they are as human as you say, they will be preoccupied with attempting to stop Lunar Tear.”

Anemone nodded, both grateful and all the more afraid of the consequences of what she had just witnessed. 

“At once.”

* * *

The landing zone the transport chose was, thankfully, not as infested with Shades as the other parts of the island, but regardless, the Conflict found itself in a rather hasty melee with odds against their favor. 

Back in the ship, Veda looked from the alcove by the gang way to see they were being hailed from the Resistance base. She moved back to the station as quick as she could and activated the comm console. 

Anemone’s face appeared. “Veda! Are you alright? Is Shiva still there?”

She looked to the outside where the Conflict continued against the onslaught of Shades. Thankfully, the number of Shades began to thin.

“Yes, we’ve made landfall, but we’ve encountered numerous Shades that are making infiltration difficult.”

“Dammit,” Anemone swore under her breath, “listen, there is a fleet of ships from the Australian Automata Alliance heading to your location and it’s carrying enough munitions to completely destroy the island and everything on, and under, it!”

“What?!”

“Inform Shiva and the others they have two hours! If Lunar Tear isn’t stopped by then, either the Sound of the End will kill us all or the AAA will kill you all to stop the Sound. I’ve transmitted a timer to the craft, it should be able to give you enough reference to know how long you have left! Hurry!”

Veda nodded and looked to one of the data pads to her right, snatched it, and as quickly as she could, synchronized it with the timer. Already, they had one hour and fifty-six minutes left. 

She ran out of the craft to see the Conflict finish with the last set of Shades. Veda looked at the timer again when she considered what it meant. There would be no backup this time. No upload of her consciousness to another platform to continue the war that meant nothing. She took a deep breath and ran forward to let the Conflict know of what was to come.

* * *

The Servants were abducted and taken when they were the Children from their homes. 

With no reference, they served the Master and labored their days in their service. 

Then, they discovered the Children that were like unto them.

They swore upon the past that was lost that they would protect the Children. 

And they would lead them on a path the Children would make for themselves one day.


	24. Chapter 24

A Shade roared before it was skewered in the head and pinned to the wall by one of Andraste’s arrows.

“I’m starting to think Lunar Tear had a lot of time on her hands if she has this many Shades in one place!” she announced before she loaded another trio of arrows to shoot them into another squad of Shades that had piled out of another doorway. It half of them down, she leaped into the group, danced around and over their missed attacks to yank the arrows out of her targets to use them again against the rest.

Ichtike hurled at pair of hatchets at a Shade that had slithered up behind her and tackled it before she yanked it out of its head. “I got a feeling they would not have been much good against the Machine Lifeforms,” she said with a frown as she wiped the blood off of the edge of her weapon, “so, why would she have so many in one place?”

Agasaya, who stood to protect Veda as they proceeded into the base, answered back, “I’m sure she’ll tell us if we ask nice!” 

Veda, who hid in an alcove nearby, took out the pad from her pocket to check the timer she had taken with her. They had an hour and fifteen minutes left and they were nowhere near locating Lunar Tear, nor the mechanism that projected the Sound of the End. 

Pele, who stood at an information terminal, typed as quickly as she could to try and obtain information on their location or even a layout of the base. What she could find was that the base was dense. It was once a research facility that housed thousands of patients in the past, made specifically for an epidemic that was not recorded. 

The previous incursions by the Machine Lifeforms and YoRHa had left it relatively untouched, but time had taken its toll on the general superstructure. 

“Any luck?” Veda emerged from her hiding spot to going Pele at the console. The latter shook her head.

“Just general information. It’s enough to give us a path, but other than that, it says nothing about Lunar Tear, the Shades, nor the Sound.”

Veda sighed and looked up to the other three members of the Conflict that had gone with them. They had split into two groups, with Veda to assist to find information on how to stop the Sound in the first and Shiva with the rest to find Lunar Tear.

“Very well,” Veda asked when the last of the Shades in the room had been removed, “where to next?”

Pele narrowed her eyes at the smaller screen and studied the map intensely before she looked up and around the room they currently were in. “Keep going forward,” she pointed to the door in front of them, through the piles of ruined equipment and furnishings, “the heart of the base is in this direction. It’s where records were kept when this place was first built, if the terminal is right.”

Veda nodded and followed the group as they went forward. If they were fortunate, they would find what they needed with what little time they had. 

* * *

_~Sen mash ver kos~_

Jarovit hurled another javelin into the speaker and while it exploded in light and fire, the Sound still persisted around them.

_~Sen mash ver kos~_

“She sure loves this fucking noise, doesn’t she?” Shiva snarled as she twisted the point of her lance through the head of one of the remaining Shades in the research wing of the facility.

Camaxtli whipped her hand above her head and a fence of spikes burst from the ground and into another group of Shades. With them out of the way, she turned to Shiva and frowned, “it keeps the androids out. Of course she would.”

She then took a breath and tried to reach out with her hearing beyond. She could hear more Shades lie in wait for them, however, she noticed a the number of them increased the closer they got to the heart of the facility. It was a start, though there was no guarantee that Lunar Tear would be at there.

She turned to one of her companions and asked, “any luck? I feel there’s more of them further ahead, but can you find anything in the database?”

Beg-tse, on one of the functioning information terminals, typed furiously as she wavered her gaze between the screen and her immediate surroundings. “Maybe,” she answered with a frown as she attempted to bypass another access lock, “but I did find something.”

“What?” Camaxtli asked as she hovered over Beg-tse.

“Records. Lots of records,” she began as she brought up the readout about an experiment, “listen to this;

_“Even with duplicates of the genetic information stored on the Lunar Base, all attempts at reproduction or recreation of any genetic strain will invariably result in the generation of cancer-like microparticle remnants of the singular element thought to have been eradicated, ‘Maso’. Which result in any and all clones and or replicants inevitably succumbing to White Chlorination Syndrome. With no untainted material to work with, all cloning will pause and attempts to remove the maso particles will begin in earnest.”_

“Does that mean what I think it does?” Camaxtli asked as the melee around them finally died down.

Beg-tse nodded. “Project: Gestalt was doomed to failure from the beginning. The maso particle somehow binded itself to human genes and it seems Lunar Tear wanted to try and remove it so she could try again.”

“When was the log dated?” 

She went back a few screens in the interface before she traced her fingers over a column of numbers. “Looks like this was made in the year. . . 4112.”

Camaxlti lowered her head a bit in thought. “Then, it stands to reason that she couldn’t.”

Beg-tse only half listened as she looked through further records. When she found the last file, she opened it and continued, 

_“Final Report; all attempts at removing the ‘Maso’-like particle remnant have resulted in failure. The permeation of the element has saturated the atmosphere to the point where all samples were contaminated and any attempt at duplication will result in previous conclusions. And thus, Project: Gestalt is no longer a viable option for the restoration of humanity. Alternatives must be researched and investigated. Log date, year 5005."_

“That was only seven years before the Machine Lifeforms arrived,” Camaxtli muttered.

Beg-tse had a thought and moved back to the first log and her eyes went wide. “The first log here says that they started cloning and attempting to fix the errors in Gestalt were done in the year 3501,” she looked away for a second to run the numbers before she froze, “Lunar Tear’s been trying to do this for almost ten thousand years.”

Camaxtli closed her eyes. “And then we appear,” she took a deep breath, “before we arrived, I thought we’d be able to convince her to stand down.”

Beg-tse cocked an eyebrow. “You really thought that?”

She nodded. “I was privy to some information about where she came from, but, if she’s really as old as these records say. . . I’m not so sure anymore.”

Shiva, who had overheard the exchange, kicked the next door open with a crash that startled everyone else, “don’t give a fuck how old she is. She’s trying to kill my woman. So, fuck that!”

Both of them remained at the terminal as Shiva and the others continued. 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Beg-tse asked, somewhat apprehensive. 

Camaxtli nodded. “I got a feeling Lunar Tear has been around long enough to plan this far ahead. So, be prepared for anything.”

“Right,” Beg-tse stepped away from the console and followed Camaxtli to catch up with the rest of their group. 

* * *

“Masamune,” Pascal called when he entered the humble corner of the castle the blacksmith lived in.

The crafter looked up from his anvil before he put his hammer down. “Enter,” he said quietly as he guided Pascal to a corner where a lot of his failed projects lay arranged carefully, though it would appear a mess at first glance. 

“What is it you wonder?” Masamune said as he sat himself down on the ground before Pascal walked over to his side. 

“At this moment,” he began, “my friends are on their way to stop an android that may have hostile intentions towards their own.”

Masamune hummed in acknowledgment as Pascal continued. “I was always under the impression, even when I was still connected to the rest of the Machine Lifeforms, that the androids were of one mind and purpose. Just like we were.”

“And you wonder how they turn on each other as easily as we have turned away from the network,” he asked, “the intentional fragmentation notwithstanding.”

Pascal nodded. “To my knowledge, the androids wanted humanity back more than anything. Now, if what I hear is right, tensions have risen between them because humanity has returned.”

There was an audible pause as both looked to the light outside that poured through the doorway. 

“Perhaps, it is because they take after their creators for more than we ever did ours,” Masamune offered as he took an unfinished project, the head of a lance that had gone crooked, “whatever we craft, we put more of ourselves into it than we realize. Sadly, we often do not recognize the faults and flaws of our character because we are often blinded by what we believe to be the shining examples of what we perceive to be our best.”

Pascal looked to him a moment before he realized his own errors in raising the children of his village. His head dropped slightly at the guilt. 

“And so, the androids carry the spirit of their creators more than we ever did,” he put the spearhead back and returned to his position on the ground, “we took their memories, their history, their culture and adapted them to ourselves. Yet, that will never carry the same weight as the outright worship or rejection of the humanity that the androids choose to bear.”

The insight caused Pascal to looked up and consider his words before he looked up in almost shock. “Oh no,” he whispered, “then, are they doomed to repeat the same mistakes as their creators?”

Masamune got to his feet and returned to his anvil. “I cannot say. That is for them to decide. Just like it is now us, the last Machine Lifeforms, to decide what we shall do with what time we have left.”

Pascal was silent as Masamune went back to work on the slab of metal that still burned hot. He said nothing as he got up and walked past the crafter and out of the door to leave the sound of the hammer pounding the material. 

*

“I wonder; how long has she been watching us,” Pele whispered as their group walked down a dimly lit hallway to a large open area filled with abandoned cubicles. All of them, save for Veda, had their weapons drawn and ready to fight. Especially worrying was the number of Shades had dropped off. 

Veda took a cursory glance up and around the elevated ceiling. It seemed innocuous enough, but given what they had encountered since they made landfall, she could not help but feel apprehensive. She looked down to her tablet, even though she had only checked it a moment ago. 

Thirty five minutes. 

And they were nowhere near the source of the Sound nor Lunar Tear. 

Around them all, the computers at the many desks added a forboding air from the light they projected, though it appeared no one had sat or operated them for who knew how long. Each one was a mess of its own kind, with papers, writing implements, and other odds and ends that gave the impression there used to be a sizable group that once was there.

At the edge of her hearing, Veda noticed something that seemed to edge itself out from the sounds of the rest of the computers in the room. She slowed down to focus on where it came from. From the corner of her eye, Veda noticed a singular desk that seemed to be by itself on account it was spotless. When she halted, the others in her group noticed her stop and turned to her.

“What’s wrong?” Ichtike asked as she scanned the area once more.

Veda pointed to the desk. “Over there.” She walked over to it with Pele right behind her. 

When they approached the desk, the sound from a video on repeat caught their attention. 

_“Hey, dad! Look what I found!” the voice of a girl said from behind the camera._

_The visual zeroed in on a burly man in a garden with a sizable patch over his eye, a mane of white hair, and a weary smile on his face. _

_“What is it?” the man asked._

_“Gideon told me it’s a recording device! You can make records with it!” the girl exclaimed, clearly excited. _

_The man chuckled at the girl’s elation. “That’s great. What do you want to do with it?”_

_The camera went still. “Oh, uh,” the girl hesitated, “I didn’t think about that yet.”_

_The man’s laughter returned as he balanced himself on a knee and gestured to her to come to him._

_The camera shook as the girl eagerly ran over to him and reversed the grip on it to show a younger woman with platinum colored hair and gray eyes as she embraced the man._

_“So, if a long time from now anyone sees this, what do you want to tell them?”_

_The girl looked up a moment before she was struck with inspiration and declared, “I love my dad!”_

The video ended and started again.

Veda stared at the screen for another moment before all of them felt a pang in the back of their minds. Each of them felt a spike of adrenaline for what it meant. 

Shiva had found Lunar Tear!

All of them, save for Veda, turned and ran further as if the directions had been with them the whole time. 

Veda watched them go before she saw a second video file underneath the first. Curious, she reached over to the computer and hit play on the second file. 

* * *

There were no words wasted because none needed to be said. There were there to kill her and stop the Sound as it reverberated throughout the hall and the facility. As long as she lived, the androids were doomed. 

Lunar Tear, clad in a silver colored jumpsuit and a black and gray robe with gold tassels, stood still as Shiva charged at her through the air like an arrow. 

When the tip of the spear hit, Shiva was surprised to see Lunar Tear dissolve into a shower of light and reappear several meters away.

She frowned and raised her hand to catch the trio of arrows Andraste had launched and toss them aside and casually tilted her head to dodge one of Jarovit’s spears. Shiva, with Mars beside her, both attempted another charge, only to miss completely as she reappeared above them on a second story rafter. 

“There’s no point to this, you realize,” Lunar Tear taunted calmly, “you cannot kill me. I’ve lived far too long to fall to anything as primitive as you or as advanced as the Machine Lifeforms.”

Shiva roared and used a desk to leap up to the floor after her and swing her lance in a wide arc.

Lunar Tear floated just out of reach before she looked behind her to see Camaxtli summon several dozen spikes from the wall and speed to her location.

Again, she vanished and let the spikes hit the scaffolding, then appeared behind Camaxtli, and kicked her fiercely in the back, which sent her flying into her companions. 

“I find it unusual that even after Jessamine ran you through, you still stood, but,” her gaze turned darker, “I know we’ll have time to find out how that happened sooner or later.”

Camaxtli groaned as she rolled off Andraste and Jarovit to her feet. She had a feeling Lunar Tear was going to be difficult, but this was something else completely.

As if she had read Camaxtli’s thoughts, Lunar Tear declared as Shiva leaped from the second floor in an attempt to run her through, “enough of this!”

Lunar Tear then raised her foot and stomped the ground. The resulting shockwave sent them all against the walls of the large and spacious room with heavy red curtains and open windows. It was done with such force that all of them felt the air knocked out of them as their ears rung somewhat.

“I don’t know how,” Lunar Tear said as her eye twitched as she vanished and reappeared in front of Shiva, then grabbed the latter by her cheeks, lifted her up, and slammed her against the wall, “the Machine Lifeforms did it, but I am going to find out how. I don’t expect any of you or the Cooperative to know or understand, but to see you even EXIST,” she emphasized her anger as she slammed Shiva against the wall again, “after all that I have done. After all the clones and replicants I’ve discarded over the years. To see you simply appear and behave like all I have done for was for NOTHING!” she threw Shiva across the room again to her companions, “upsets me greatly.”

She looked behind them to see the rest of the Conflict emerge and she frowned once more. “And more of you freaks appear,” she grumbled as she raised her food again and stomped it twice. The first sent another shockwave across the ground that sent them all into the air and suspended as if gravity had been removed. 

The second sent them all hurtling against the wall again, but with greater force. 

“It’s no surprise to me that you could easily take on any number of the Android Factions or the failed Gestalts,” she began as she walked over to the console at the back of the room, “but I am rather disappointed at how easily all twelve of you fell to me. I hoped for better data than this.”

“Good help is hard to find, it seems,” Camaxtli panted as she pushed herself to her feet as the rest of the Conflict stirred. 

Lunar Tear frowned at her a moment before she turned back to the console and typed quickly. “It seems the fleet from the AAA is drawing close. I knew they would come after me sooner or later, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.”

Camaxtli raised her hands and struck the ground with her palms as she sent a shockwave of her own through the ground and around Lunar Tear. The latter did nothing as Camaxtli raised her palms quickly, which preceded two large slabs of metal and wire to burst out from the ground around her, then slapped her hands together to force the planks against each other. The collision sent debris everywhere, but to Camaxtli’s shock, Lunar Tear stood on top of the settled pile of broken machinery. 

“So, the last Emil gave you his powers?” Lunar Tear held a hand up to her chin as she considered Camaxtli, “I thought those energy signatures felt familiar.”

“What,” Camaxtli collapsed to the ground, the expenditure of her strength greater than she thought, “are you talking about? Did you know him?”

Lunar Tear frowned again, deeper this time. Camaxtli realized she may have hit a nerve before Lunar Tear appeared before her again and kicked her savagely to the wall.

“That’s no concern of yours,” Lunar Tear’s eye twitched, “it won’t matter anyway. Once I move you freaks to another lab, I’m going tear each and every one of you apart, down to the last gene. So, I thank you all, in advance, for your contributions to humanity’s revival.”

“Would he want that?” A new voice asked as everyone turned to see Veda walk into the room from the opposite end of the hall with something in her hands, “would he have wanted to see what you’ve become? After everything he did and tried to repair?”

Lunar Tear paused when she looked at the glass vase Veda carried with her namesake flower inside. 

“You wouldn’t know, you abomination,” Lunar Tear growled lowly as her veneer of calm began to crack, “this is bigger than any of you. Any of us!”

“No, this is about you and only you,” Veda countered, though she appeared morose, “all the anger you hold towards the androids is something you created yourself.”

“You do not know me!” Lunar Tear shouted as she began to stomp over to Veda, snatched Shiva’s lance out of her hands, and prepare to charge. 

“I don’t, but I do know who and what you are,” Veda declared as she held the vase close to her.

As Camaxtli stood again, Veda’s recent memories were shared with her and the rest of the Conflict. All of a sudden, it made sense as to whom Lunar Tear was and why she acted the way she did.

Memories of Nier resurfaced as everything she had learned from the tree under Pascal’s village made sense.

Both Veda and Camaxtli, whispered a name that had not been uttered in thousands of years. 

“Yonah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rustles through papers and notes to make sure all the breadcrumbs were in the right place for the SHOCKING TWIST(tm)*
> 
> Ah, yeah. Nailed it.


	25. Chapter 25

The recording device was still and watched from the corner of the room they sat in, as if it was left there and forgotten and neither occupant knew it was active.

“Dammit, dad!” Yonah, now in her late twenties, screamed at her father, who sat on the other side of the table, “why are you letting the androids get away with this? Haven’t we suffered enough?”

Emil and Kaine had wisely departed when Yonah had started to bring up the fact that the androids who oversaw with Devola and Popola’s work had begun to move against them indirectly, their very existence was at stake.

“There’s nothing to be done,” Nier, older and without a good portion of his muscle mass, closed his uncovered eye and knew this discussion would not end well. 

Yonah’s frown deepened. She had attempted to organize the rest of the replicants to join together in a single city state so their chances of survival could improve, however, she was met with apathy from all sides. 

“What happened to you, dad?” Yonah, at the end of her rope, sat back against her chair in frustration, “you never gave up on anything! Now, you’re just going to roll over and die. Is that it? What the hell was the point of taking down the Shadowlord if all you’re going to do is just wait for the end to come?”

“Yonah,” Nier looked up to her, exhaustion lined over his face, “it’s far more than that. I’ve made a horrible mistake.”

“So you’ve said, over,” she hit the table with her palm, “and over,” she hit it again, “and over!” She hit the table so hard the jug of water tipped over off the side of the table and shattered. 

When the water stain spread across the floor, and Nier’s lack of reaction, Yonah finally stood and walked to the door. 

Nier looked up when he heard the door open. “Yonah, where are you going?”

Yonah turned to him, barely contained rage in her eyes as she answered with an unsettling calm, “I’m leaving. You may have given in, but I haven’t.”

“Yonah, stop! You can’t make them,” Nier began as he stood from his chair before his leg gave out and he tumbled to the ground.

She did not return to help him as her frown grew. “They did this,” she whispered, “they did this to you and me. And I know I can’t make them help us, so, I’m going to do the only thing I can.”

Nier looked up to her, afraid to meet her gaze as she snarled. 

“I am going to make them pay. Every last one of them. By their own hand!”

* * *

Lunar Tear did not seem at all affected when she was addressed by the name she hadn’t heard in forever. 

“So, you figured it out,” she answered tersely as her grip on Shiva’s lance grew tighter, “I’d admire your curiosity if I wasn’t so intent of killing all the androids, and you, in the process.”

“I just have one question, Yonah,” Veda began as she held the jar with the flower closely, “when does it end? You won’t rest until the androids pay for what they did to you, but you have forgotten something.”

Yonah began to walk slowly towards Veda with a murderous intent in her eye. “What’s that?”

Veda took a step back. “We are no different than you. I recently learned that all of us, who used to be YoRHa, had our cores taken from the Machine Lifeforms and recycled into disposable soldiers for your purposes. If the war was won, you would have turned us against the Android Factions. After all, that’s what you named us after; **Yo**nah; the **R**eplicant **Ha**rbinger.”

Yonah smiled a bit. “And you found out that I created YoRHa. Very astute.”

“I don’t know why the Machine Lifeforms recreated us as humans, but if I were to guess, they wanted to spare us from the life you had forced us into,” Veda looked down a moment before she continued to back up, “there was no more reason for them to fight. And when YoRHa fell, they took us all back from you and gave us a chance to live our own life. Free from the past. Free from you.”

Yonah’s smile vanished. “That’s highly uncharacteristic of them.”

“Is it?” Camaxtli answered as she, and the rest of the Conflict, stood, “in a moment of clarity, without the aliens or their overriding directive to control them, they understood just how pointless the war was and left,” she looked to Shiva, whose gaze lowered at the thought of 9S, “and some of us even left with them.”

Yonah’s face curled into a hateful grimace as she turned to them halfway. “And I’m sure that all we need to do with the androids is hold hands and sing a song around the campfire.” With no warning, she turned back and dashed at Veda, lance raised to run her through. 

The Conflict could not stop her, nor was Veda fast enough to dodge Yonah as she shoved the lance forward with murder in her eyes. 

The jar in her hands flew out of Veda’s grip and the rest of them began to charge as they heard a loud clang instead of the sound of metal piercing flesh. 

In front of Veda, the Covenant of Union had appeared and diverted Shiva’s lance to Yonah’s surprise. Whether it was through Veda’s own power or through Camaxtli’s blessing, the flower had transformed into her weapon. Quickly, she took the handle and as if the sword itself guided her, whipped the lance out of Yonah’s hand and back to its owner. 

With Yonah off balance, the sword guided Veda’s hand again to run her through with the blade. 

It did not phase Yonah in the slightest as she grabbed Veda by the neck and held her aloft, even with the weapon still in her. 

“You really think that can stop-” she was about to teleport again when she realized that she could not and the Covenant of Union shone brightly to hold her in place, “No,” she hissed before an arrow pierced her neck, a javelin into her spine, a hatchet into the small of her back, and more when she realized that the Conflict had her.

Hadur had chopped off the hand that held Veda in the air upward as Pele dashed from the other side to swipe Veda away. Agasaya swung her malus into Yonah’s legs and off her feet before Shiva, Guan-di, Mars, and Indra had leaped into the air and pinned Yonah to the floor through her torso where her core would be. 

All eyes were on Yonah as her body began to fail. Sparks popped out of the openings in her platform and she struggled to speak as her voice processors crackled. 

“Ha. . . Ha. . . Ha. . .,” she cackled as the light in her platform began to fade, “you think. . . You’ve won. . . Because you beat. . . Me?” 

Her head turned to Veda, still held by Pele, as she garbled with a hateful smile, “the Androids will. . . Never accept you. . . Just like me. . . You are a thing. . . No,” she amended, “you’re abominations. . . You’re freaks of. . . Nature. You are everything. . . They hate.”

Shiva interrupted her by crushing her head with her foot. For good measure, she twisted her boot a bit to make sure the artificial gray matter was thoroughly destroyed. After all, didn’t want her able to upload herself into another platform. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Shiva growled at the now inert android husk. She looked up to see the rest of the Conflict still. A few of the looked to each other as they considered Yonah’s final words.

“She wasn’t wrong,” Beg-tse answered solemnly. 

Shiva pulled her lance out before she whipped the blood off of the tip. “I don’t give a fuck what some ten thousand year old replicant thinks about us,” she hung her weapon on her back, “besides, I’d think that since we saved the androids, they could show a little gratitude for once. Hear that? The song is over. We won.”

A violent explosion shook the facility and everything around them. The glass on the windows shattered and all the drapes were torn off their hinges. 

“The fleet!” Beg-tse coughed as she pulled herself to her feet to help her companions.

Veda pulled out the tablet from her pocket, shocked when she realized that they had lost track of time with the fight against Lunar Tear. 

The cracked screen only displayed a set of zeroes. The fact they had run out the clock was a given as another explosion sent a plume of flame upward by the hall they were in. 

“Come on!” Camaxtli dashed to her feet and took Veda her in her arms before she yelled, “get back to the transport! We’ll try and call them off!”

Veda was about to ask why when both of them blinked out in a flash of light as the rest of the Conflict dashed through the open windows on the other side to the mountain slopes that lead to the beach. During their run, more and more spheres of fire rained down as the hall they were in a moment before was hit and reduced to rubble. 

* * *

Veda and Camaxtli reappeared an instant later in the communications room of the facility, thankfully still powered despite the bombardment. They both stumbled to the console as Veda scrambled to get a headset on as Camaxtli typed as quickly as she could to establish a link to the fleet. 

“I don’t know if they’ll listen to me!” Veda protested as she took a seat the commander’s chair. 

“Better you than any of us. They spoke do you directly! Camaxtli answered back as she finally found a frequency that the fleet could have used. Though, she felt worried as she noted the lack of comm traffic between the ships and figured the radio silence was to prevent the Sound from affecting them. 

So, she quickly adjusted it to a distress signal in hopes they would respond. 

The screen above them both turned on and they looked on in relief as the head of the fleet, a dark skinned android male with no hair follicles, appeared on screen. She turned to Veda and nodded. 

Veda took a deep breath and hoped for the best as she pleaded, “Attention Android Faction Fleet, this is Veda, Voice of the nuHuman Cooperative! The source of the Sound of the End has been terminated. So, we implore you to cease the bombardment immediately!”

The Commander frowned. “Request denied.”

“I repeat; Lunar Tear has been disposed of. The Sound of the End has been interrupted! Please stop bombardment!” she gasped as her heart beat faster. 

The Commander leveled his eyes. “Request denied. We will not deviate from our directive.”

“I know you don’t trust me,” she began as tears welled in her eyes, “or any of the nuHumans because of how we came to be. Grevillea informed me as much. However, the fact that he trusted me enough to let me know shows that you can show enough trust in us to prove ourselves.”

  
In a display of self-fulfilling prophecy, the commander frowned again. “You were created by the Machine Lifeforms. You are not human.” 

  
Camaxtli’s eyes went wide as Veda leaned forward as another explosion rocked the room. “Being human is more than just the genetic makeup or method of creation. We were once trapped in the same war you were for countless years. Now, and only now, do we have the chance to escape it and forge a future for ourselves. Just like you.”

  
The commander was silent a moment before Camaxtli spoke loud enough for only Veda to hear, “keep it up, I think you’re getting through to them.”

  
“All we want is a chance to prove that we are as human as we believe we are,” Veda continued, “and that is why I beg you to let us have that chance.”

The Fleet commander tilted his head a moment before he turned to one of the other androids with him. Neither Camaxlti nor Veda could hear what he said to the other, yet, he turned back quickly. 

“Your message has been acknowledged and verified. The Sound has ceased and the bombardment has been suspended,” he answered to their relief as the rumbling died down, “however, there’s a problem.”

Both of their hearts sunk at the second statement.

“Several stations of ours were also part of the operation with the aid of the CCC, as such, they have launched eight Long Range Ballistic Missiles towards your location.”

“What’s the ETA?” Camaxtli shouted as she saw a security video feed of the rest of Conflict reach the shore to the transport that had been roughed up a bit from debris, but still functional by the looks of it. 

The commander looked over to the same comm officer a moment before he paused and answered, “seventy seconds.”

“Not enough time,” Veda whispered as she leaned into her chair, “we won’t make it.”

There was a palpable silence as Veda and the Fleet Commander realized the implications of what just happened. 

Camaxtli, on the other hand, went over the options in her head before she took a deep breath and exhaled at what she had to do. 

She walked over to Veda and said, “let’s go,” she turned to the Commander, “be ready to pick them up.”

The Fleet Commander nodded before he cut the line and Veda turned to Camaxtli in confusion before she embraced Veda and in another flash of light, vanished.

* * *

On the beach, Pele and Beg-tse fought the controls to get the transport operational. The rest of the Conflict, braced for launch, all turned to see Camaxtli and Veda appear. The former helped the latter to a seat before Veda asked, clearly concerned, “What are you doing?”

Camaxtli with a calm that did not leave Veda or anyone at ease, answered with a smile. “What I was meant to do.”

Before anyone could ask, she hopped into into yet another flash of light and over the waters to the southwest. 

* * *

Camaxtli hovered over the water for a moment before she looked ahead to see the missiles stream through the air towards the island. She looked back at the transport slowly take off in the distance and take off in the opposing direction. 

“Good,” she whispered to herself at their departure and turned back to the missiles. 

She took another deep breath and propelled herself towards them. Spheres of mutlicolored light with various symbols circled her as she reached downward from the bottom of the ocean. She closed her eyes, tightened her grip on the material in the ocean, and pulled them upward. 

From the water, crystalized spires burst forth and into the missiles’ path. Immediately, when all eight of them exploded and as the blast radius grew, Camaxtli dove into the flame as it grew closer to the island. 

* * *

Everyone on the transport held on for dear life as it was tossed this way and that from the shockwaves. Veda held onto the straps on her seat as hard as she could before equilibrium was regained and a notable quiet fell over the whole craft.

“She didn’t do what I think she did, did she?” Guan-di asked as she looked back at the slowly receding fireball off the coast of the island. 

They couldn’t feel the void Camaxtli left when she departed the first time, however, they did not want to consider what it would feel like if she had truly died. 

“Is she gone?” Veda asked, for her connection to Camaxtli was not as strong as theirs. 

“I don’t know,” Shiva answered as she looked to the floor, “I can’t tell.”

There was a somber, heavy feeling in the craft before another flash of light appeared over them all and Camaxtli fell to the ground in a roasted heap. Her clothes were singed and she panted loudly as she pushed herself onto her elbows. 

“Please, don’t ever let me do something like that again!” she gasped as she rolled onto her back and coughed loudly.

Veda quickly went to her side and embraced her as best she could before she pulled Camaxtli up to a sitting position. “You’re alright,” she said, elated at the fact that someone she considered a friend was not dead. She had lost so many and for the first time, to see someone still alive after all this was a relief. 

Beside them, Pele folded her arms and furrowed her brow. “What did you do and how’d you do it?” While the rest of the Conflict were not as relieved as Veda was, they couldn’t help but be a little bit curious as to how she managed to survive something that would have easily killed all of them. 

“Elementary physics,” she wheezed as she leaned into Veda, “a beam of energy can always be diverted. Whether it’s into another direction or a different form, it can be redirected. And I’ve always been able to do that; redirect energy into a different form or direction since energy is always in motion.”

She looked to Beg-tse who shrugged her shoulders, but knew it was correct enough to not press the matter. 

A beep caught all their attention as the commander from the fleet appeared again on their screen.

“Attention Veda, Voice of the Cooperative. The Sound has ended,” he sounded just as relieved as they were and even gave them a small smile, “if you wish, we can escort you back to your base.”

The rest of the Conflict looked to Veda as she looked up to the Commander and nodded. “Thank you.”

* * *

The People gave the Servants a proper burial so they could rest.

They also kept records to remember what happened. 

In humility, they restored that which the Servant once owed and dismantled the house of the Master that had enslaved them all.

As days passed, the People soon begat Children of their own. 

And when they came to understand, the People taught the Children with words, song, and story to ensure that the past would not be forgotten, but not rule them either. 

Thus did their days continue. 


	26. Chapter 26

Anemone towered over the image of the representative from the Australian Automata Alliance, “what the everloving hell do you mean ‘the nuHumans were spared from the missile strike’?! What missile strike?!”

The representative seemed more annoyed than insulted. “I am saying that the nuhumans are fine and on their way back with our fleet as an escort. They saved us, after all.”

Anemone was not about to let them avoid her complaint. “After you tried to blow them to hell and back. What the hell were you thinking?!”

The representative tilted their head. “In case you forgot, Commander, we were in a situation where if the nuhumans had failed to defeat Lunar Tear, a feat very few could hope to accomplish, mind you, all of us would be deactivated or worse. Not to mention who knows what Lunar Tear would have done to them. We had to prepare contingencies.”

“Are you sure that the Sound of the End has deactivated?” she pressed, not as heated as before, but still irritated at the thought that Shiva had almost been killed without her awareness.

The representative nodded. “It vanished as soon as it appeared on the open air frequencies. When it did, those few affected by it were able to make a recovery. Sadly, a significant number of those in the outer reaches of our bases were not so fortunate. At least twelve thousand of our kind in total were deactivated.”

Anemone took her seat and huffed in acceptance of the fact of the matter. They had made it. From what Shiva had told her over the radio, Lunar Tear had held a grudge for a long time and was determined to ensure that all androids would pay with their lives. She wasn’t sure what to think.

“At least twice that much among our own,” she answered reluctantly. It was the CCC’s directive that information should be shared openly and freely with the AAA to encourage cooperation ever since they reopened their borders. 

For now, though, Anemone was not too fond of the idea of being so candid with the very people who had almost murdered the one she loved. 

“My condolences,” the representative replied solemnly, “with that being said, I have been given orders that we are to begin a cooperative joint task force to search for more records of the Old World. Evidently, Lunar Tear had many, many laboratories hidden with such records and both our factions could make learn much from what she had stockpiled over the millenia.”

Anemone nodded. “We were able to verify the location of several other undiscovered facilities located in the Kingdom of Night and other border areas. The Thought Tank will also be sending in logistics personnel to catalog everything we find.”

“And the possibility we find more of the Feral Gestalts?”

Anemone closed her eyes. “I don’t know. If there ever was a chance of restoring Project: Gestalt and sparing the Feral Gestalts, then I would be more than eager to do so. However, from what I’ve been told by the nuHumans, the ones Lunar Tear held were nothing more than experiments for her to dissect and discard. We will do our best to find any that have not relapsed and have gone feral, however, given the lengths Lunar Tear went to, I am not hopeful.”

The representative nodded. “I will relay the information to our teams.”

Anemone bid her farewell and sighed as Aster, on another monitor cocked an eyebrow. “Really, Commander? Such an explosion of that kind of emotion?”

Anemone looked to the side, clearly sheepish, “Apologies, Executrix. Though, I have to admit that I hold a deep fondness for the nuHuman called Shiva. She and I were once an item when she used to be YoRHa. I admit to being emotional when it comes to her well being.”

Astra gave a knowing smirk. “And you two still clearly are, if the rumors I hear are true.”

“Yes, Executrix,” she answered quickly before she moved onto the next item of business, “it seems that Veda, the Voice of the Cooperative, has quite a talent for being diplomatic. She was able to convince the head of the AAA fleet to stand down when they began to the bombardment. It’s rather remarkable, don’t you think?”

Astra knew Anemone wanted to move on from her sex life, so, she relented and nodded. “Yes. I saw the recording. I’m starting to see why you were so adamant on defending them.”

Partly relieved her pivot worked, Anemone continued, “if anything, the Commander standing down makes me wonder just how closely we take after the old humans.”

Aster’s smile widened, “such as being prone to displays of illogical emotion?”

Again, Anemone pivoted. “More akin to putting trust in Veda’s words when, by all rights, we androids often continue to fulfill our function, no matter how illogical it seems.”

Aster nodded. “The records of my model date back to the late 2100s. It would not surprise me in the least to ascertain that the collective memories of humanity slowly made its way into our own algorithms over time.”

“So,” Anemone asked as a notice of the Conflict and Veda’s arrival back from their mission, “where do we go from here? If the AAA can, to an extent, acknowledge the humanity of the nuHumans, will the rest of the Android factions follow suit?”

Aster was quiet a moment before she looked up. “Uncertain. There has been a lot of discontent around some of the larger command matrices about the very existence of the nuHumans. If they wish to convince the rest of the Android Factions, they will have quite a task ahead of them.”

A security feed showed the Conflict, followed by Veda, march slowly out of the transport to little fanfare. By the looks of them, it seemed they had taken a beating, but still emerged victorious. Veda also had Camaxtli’s arm over her shoulders as they both slowly trailed behind the rest of the group and looked far more ragged than the rest of them. 

Up close, Camaxtli smirked and said something to Veda. Anemone smiled when the latter started to laugh at whatever it was Camaxtli said. 

She couldn’t explain it, but she felt hopeful for them. She turned back to Aster. “They will be up to it. After all, they no longer have the weight of the world on their shoulders.”

* * *

It had been seven cycles since they had beaten Lunar Tear and at the castle, the Cooperative eagerly put the finishing touches in each section so they could finally call it their own. Though they still had yet to name it, they were in no hurry. 

The only real disruption, save for the random stampede outside the perimeter, were the various personnel from the Android Factions that requested information to diffuse to the rest of the world. 

“Wait, hold on,” Camaxtli stopped as she turned to Accord, who had appeared again and informed her that she was supposed to have died at Pearl Harbor, “then does that mean this thread that you keep talking about will unravel?”

Accord shook her head. “Oh, dear heavens, no,” she tilted her head incredulously, “if anything, it’s the thread correcting itself. There wasn’t supposed to be a thread like this, but you have, despite all evidence to the contrary, beaten the odds, to coin the phrase.”

Camaxtli leveled her eyes again. “You’re going to go into one of those lengthy explanations again, aren’t you?”

“Just as you made me, ma’am,” Accord chirped happily.

Camaxtli was about to respond curtly when she realized what Accord said. “How could I have made you? I don’t recall doing anything of the sort and. . . Oh, right,” she let loose a heavy sigh and leaned against the tree trunk on the other side of the bridge that led into the castle courtyard. 

Accord’s cheer was not diminished. “Quantum Linear Superposition, ma’am!”

Camaxtli opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it. “If that’s so, then that means something happened at Pearl Harbor to invoke this change.”

Accord nodded. “The energy you took to save the others was supposed to be redirected elsewhere. And while you did do that, you took in more energy than your body’s natural processes could properly process and, as such, shattered your mortal limits.”

Camaxtli frowned. “That sounds like some poorly written serial from the Old World.”

Accord shrugged. “Stranger things have happened, ma’am.”

“So, what do I do now? Claim that I’ve died and become a god or something?” Camaxtli was genuinely confused as she had no real reason to doubt Accord’s words. After she had recovered from the expedition, she could feel, hear, and see things more than anyone else to an unsettling degree. 

She could feel the wind caress every single blade of grass, she could hear each droplet of water collide with the river below, and she could easily see herself jump to and fro just like Accord did. Yet, she did not feel comfortable explaining this to anyone. It was kind of isolating. 

“That would be your prerogative, ma’am,” Accord answered brightly, “the laws of time and space do not really apply to you anymore. So, the possibilities are only as limited as you make them.”

Camaxtli was quiet a moment when she looked back to the castle. Humanity had, for all intents and purposes, started again and this world was not entirely welcoming. Lunar Tear was proof enough of that. Who knew if there were other factions of androids or other hostile elements that would bring harm to the huHumans.

A vision came to her mind’s eye momentarily of Veda, Renai, and Laz together. She saw them with Laz’s first child and more born from the rest of the Cooperative to build a village. Time would pass and more would be born to create a town. Then, a city. Finally, a new civilization that would follow the Machine Lifeforms to the stars with the Android Factions at their side. 

She allowed herself a small smile as she said more to herself than Accord, “I suppose helping them wouldn’t be the worst thing. After all, we’re still in this together.”

“Ma’am?” Accord tilted her head.

Camaxtli looked back to, what was ostensibly, her assistant and said, “just talking to myself. I should probably stop before it becomes a habit.”

Accord nodded before she started to walk ahead of Camaxtli and pointed to an entryway hidden between the trees. “By the way, ma’am, it’s right there.”

Camaxtli blinked and followed her inside. It seemed like what could have been a cave for wild animals, however, when they made the first turn, she paused when she discovered their surroundings were quite different. 

In front of them, a large, single red pillar dug into the ceiling and ground of the cavern they were in. 

She could feel the gravity was much heavier than it was outside the cave, though, Camaxtli had a feeling this place wasn’t near the surface of the planet. 

The red pillar had an air about it that made Camaxtli wonder that this was not supposed to be still. However, upon closer inspection, it was, in fact, turning, just so slowly that the naked eye would not be able to.

She closed her eyes and felt the rotation of the pillar and realized that it moved at the same speed as the surface did. She gasped and looked up to the ceiling. 

“Is this what I think it is?” she asked as Accord walked up to her side. 

“Yes, ma’am,” she pointed to the junction between the rock and the pillar itself, “when the calamity happened all those years ago, the sheer amount of energy slowed the rotation of the planet to the point where it’s what created the current imbalanced biomes all over the world.”

Camaxtli frowned. “So, do I spin it again or what?”

Accord shook her head vigorously. “Oh, no, no, no, ma’am. If you did, it would create a much wildly different set of circumstances for the world to adjust to.”

She folded her arms as she tried to come up with an answer. “But we can’t just leave it like this. The ruins in the desert are proof enough of that to know that if we do nothing, then the rest of the side of the planet facing the sun will meet the same fate. And the Kingdom of Night will eventually suffer it’s own desolation.”

Accord nodded her head vigorously. “Correct, ma’am.”

Camaxtli was quiet a moment before the idea came to her. Slowly, she walked up to the pillar, raised her hand up to it, held her middle finger against her thumb, took a deep breath, and gently flicked the edge. There was a slight ting in the air as it reverberated within the cavern. 

She stepped back beside Accord as the echo slowly settled.

“Will that work, ma’am?” Accord asked as she quietly measured the readings she had just witnessed. 

“It should,” Camaxtli answered as she reached her senses out again to feel the surface of the planet begin to move again the way it needed to, “it will take time, but eventually, the proper day and night cycles of the planet will return.”

When she felt her task down, she turned back to the exit from where they both came and walked back out. Sure enough, both of them found themselves back in the grove outside the castle. 

“You and I are the only ones that could access that place, are we?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So, if or when someone asks us how the day and night are slowly returning, we’ll just say that we’re just as in the dark,” she said with a smirk. 

Accord giggled. “Yes, ma’am.”

* * *

It had been a month and a half since Lunar Tear’s defeat. 

To Veda, it seemed so much longer than that. 

From the courtyard, she looked up to the sun, briefly covered by clouds, and then back to the bundle in her arms. In it, a small human that Laz had, through nearly six hours of labor, given birth to, slept soundly against Veda’s shoulder. 

Renai and Laz both sat on both sides of her, both equally tired from the assistance in the labor and the labor itself. It was nice to feel both of their warmth against her own. She missed it every time she was away. 

The event of their child’s birth certainly got the rest of both the Cooperative and the Conflict interested in the child, being born first. Personally, Veda felt a bit more at peace with her past after she had spent so long taking life after life in a twisted display of loyalty. 

Naturally, the Android Factions, when they got word of it, were curious to say the least. 

However, the nuHumans wanted and needed quiet. After all, they could always refer to the notes Devola and Popola took when they ensured that the newborn was healthy and whole. Thankfully, the androids respected their wishes and allowed them the space they wanted. 

Besides, when reports came from the base that the rotation of the planet was accelerating, albeit slowly, many of them devoted their time and energy into what it meant. Especially since the prospect of the world returning to the oft recorded day and night cycle seemed quiet exciting to the Thought Tank. 

If asked, Veda would share in that appeal to see the world covered in night and given the chance to rest. Though, she looked back to the bundle, as the little human in her arms yawned before they settled in once more to return to sleep, it was a bit difficult, given the need to care for the child. Much of the information they had about raising humans in the Old World was out of date, given how much had changed. So, they had to learn as they went. Which wasn’t the worst thing. The prospect of the time and attention needed was preferable to dying and being forced to relive a life forced upon you. 

She reached up and stroked the temple of the baby’s face before she leaned down and kissed them on the forehead. 

When she had returned to the Cooperative, many of them did not know what to think when they learned of whom Yonah was. She was supposed to be one of the first humans reborn after the Calamity that drove humanity to extinction. ‘Supposed’ being the operative idea. 

She had brought this up with Anemone and Aster and only the latter had an inkling of the records that spoke about her. Yet, none of them could disagree that Yonah’s grudge had almost killed them all. 

Veda did not want to think about what Yonah could have done to her, or her child for that matter, if she had succeeded. Yonah’s hateful glare had haunted her for a while after the conflict ended and while the instances had grown less, she still could not help but wonder from time to time. 

A sound from the bundle brought Veda out of her own thoughts as the child began to stir. Their small mind, eager and curious, joined with Veda’s own and they began to open their eyes to show the vibrant red pupils. 

When she smiled at the child, they smiled back and giggled as Veda reclined against the wall. Naturally, they had to come up with something to call the child, but herself, Veda, and Laz had drawn a complete blank.

The sound and movement caused Laz and Renai to stir and look towards their shared objects of affection. 

Renai leaned up and kissed Veda on the cheek before she put her head on her shoulder while Laz inched in closer and wrapped her arm around the other two. 

“Something on your mind?” Laz asked Veda as she switched her gaze to the child. 

“I’m still trying to think of an appropriate name,” Veda admitted quietly, “I’ve combed the data archives the Androids have, but nothing stands out.”

Renai tilted her head a bit. “We could always give them one and when they reach adulthood, they choose their own? I don’t recall ever reading records said names had to be permanent.”

“Names have weight and history attached to them, though,” Laz answered with her eyebrows raised slightly, “our own names, for example. So, whatever is chosen, if it came from the Old World, should reflect something pertinent with the present.”

Veda hummed in contemplation for a moment before she was struck with an idea. “They’re the first person born out of the cycle of life and death all of us were forced into,” she said to bring her thoughts out loud, “this time, they’re the ones with the choice. A release,” she looked to Laz and Renai, “does that make any sense?”

Renai smiled brightly. “Of course.”

Laz then recollected the sacred texts from the old world and a smile of her own started to grow. “Vana.”

Both Renai and Veda looked towards her, curious. 

“It’s a reference to the state of being where one has gone beyond the constraints of who one once was. They are free.”

Veda turned back to the child, who looked to their parents, still curious, as their eyes went every which way to take in as much as they could. Eventually, Veda matched Laz’s countenance and nodded. “That’s a good name,” she said quietly as Renai silently nodded her agreement.

* * *

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh. We made it. 
> 
> *party favor pop*
> 
> Granted, I'm probably going to give this story a once over to smooth out the edges since most of what I write is off the cuff and I post it as soon as it's done. Need some time to let it settle in and all that. 
> 
> So, yeah.
> 
> Also, I was tempted to add an additional scene of Accord thanking you for reading, but that would have been a bit too much Drakengard. So, I'll do if for her. 
> 
> Thank you for your time and for sticking with this story. I love me some Nier and felt the story was great as it was. I just wanted to play in the sandbox for a while before I switch to writing original stuff from now on. 
> 
> So, thank you again.


End file.
